Post on 18-Dec-2021
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FACES
Rigsby rides hisPeloton fame topandemic stardomPage 14
MILITARY
US warships sail toBlack Sea, drawingRussian angerPage 3
NBA
Players adjust toofficiating changes;fewer free throwsPage 24
Army to promote NCOs before they finish education courses ›› Page 5
WASHINGTON — As deadlines
loom for military and defense ci-
vilians to get mandated COVID-19
vaccines, senior leaders must now
wrestle with the fate of those who
flatly refuse the shots or are seek-
ing exemptions, and how to make
sure they are treated fairly and
equally.
The vast majority of the active
duty force has received at least
one shot, but tens of thousands
have not. For some, it may be a ca-
reer-ending decision. Others
could face transfers, travel re-
strictions, limits on deployments
and requirements to repay bonus-
es.
Exemption decisions for medi-
cal, religious and administrative
reasons will be made by unit com-
manders around the world, on
what the Pentagon says will be a
“case-by-case” basis. That raises
a vexing issue for military leaders
who are pushing a vaccine man-
date seen as critical to maintain-
ing a healthy force, but want to
avoid a haphazard, inconsistent
approach with those who refuse.
Brig. Gen. Darrin Cox, surgeon
general at Army Forces Com-
mand, said commanders want to
ensure they are following the
rules.
DOD mullspenaltiesfor vaccinerefusers
BY LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
RELATED
Air Force cans 40recruits whorefused vaccinePage 6
SEE PENALTIES ON PAGE 6
KABUL, Afghanistan — Islam-
ic State militants set off an explo-
sion at the entrance to a military
hospital in the Afghan capital on
Tuesday, killing at least seven
people, a senior Taliban official
said. It was one of the most brazen
ISIS attacks yet since the Taliban
took control of Afghanistan in the
summer.
Among those killed were three
women, a child and three Taliban
guards, said Taliban spokesman
Zabihullah Mujahid. Five attack-
ers were also killed, he said, add-
ing that Taliban guards prevented
them from getting into the hospi-
tal. He said the attack was over
within 15 minutes.
A doctor at Sardar Mohammad
Daud Khan military hospital, Ha-
bib Rahman, said in a Washington
Post report that at least 20 people
had been killed and more than 37
wounded, but added he expected
the toll to rise because the first ex-
plosion at the entrance also hit
many people.
The Post report also said a local
Taliban commander said that
gunmen moved inside the medical
PHOTOS BY AHMAD HALABISAZ/AP
A Taliban fighter checks documents after an explosion Tuesday in Kabul, Afghanistan. An explosion went off at the entrance of a militaryhospital, killing several people and wounding over a dozen, health officials said.
Deadly blast rocks Kabul hospital
A man rushes away with a child after Tuesday’s explosion in Kabul.
AFGHANISTAN
SEE BLAST ON PAGE 7
Islamic State militantsresponsible for attack
From wire reports
VIRUS OUTBREAK
PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
BUSINESS/WEATHER
HONG KONG — Yahoo Inc. on
Tuesday said that it plans to pull
out of China, citing an “increas-
ingly challenging business and le-
gal environment.”
The company said in a state-
ment that its services will no long-
er be accessible from mainland
China as of Nov. 1.
“Yahoo remains committed to
the rights of our users and a free
and open internet. We thank our
users for their support,” the state-
ment read.
Yahoo is the second large U.S.
technology firm in recent weeks to
reduce its operations in China.
Last month, Microsoft’s profes-
sional networking platform Link-
edIn said it would shutter its Chi-
nese site, replacing it with a jobs
board instead.
Yahoo had previously down-
sized operations in China, and
shuttered its Beijing office in 2015.
Its withdrawal from China is
largely symbolic as at least some
of Yahoo’s services, including its
web portal, have been blocked in
the country.
Chinese authorities maintain a
firm grip on internet censorship in
the country, and require compa-
nies operating in China to censor
content and keywords deemed po-
litically sensitive or inappropri-
ate.
China has also blocked most in-
ternational social media sites and
search engines, such as Facebook
and Google. Users in China who
wish to access these services cir-
cumvent the block by using a vir-
tual private network (VPN).
Yahoo leaves China amid ‘challenging’ situationAssociated Press
Bahrain82/78
Baghdad88/68
Doha90/70
Kuwait City88/73
Riyadh87/66
Kandahar75/41
Kabul62/34
Djibouti88/75
WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Mildenhall/Lakenheath
50/43
Ramstein46/43
Stuttgart43/40
Lajes,Azores67/64
Rota64/60
Morón63/51 Sigonella
71/60
Naples68/60
Aviano/Vicenza51/46
Pápa56/41
Souda Bay71/65
Brussels49/40
Zagan50/42
DrawskoPomorskie
45/42
WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE
Misawa54/51
Guam83/80
Tokyo62/49
Okinawa76/73
Sasebo67/56
Iwakuni67/60
Seoul59/47
Osan63/43
Busan64/54
The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,
2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC
WEATHER OUTLOOK
TODAYIN STRIPES
American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Faces .......................... 14Opinion ........................ 16Sports .................... 18-24
Military rates
Euro costs (Nov. 3) $1.13Dollar buys (Nov. 3) 0.8406British pound (Nov. 3) $1.33Japanese yen (Nov. 3) 111.00South Korean won (Nov. 3) 1,145.00
Commercial rates
Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3633Canada (Dollar) 1.2401China (Yuan) 6.3983Denmark (Krone) 6.4188Egypt (Pound) 15.7102Euro .8627Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7819Hungary (Forint) 310.27Israel (Shekel) 3.1430Japan (Yen) 113.77Kuwait (Dinar) .3017
Norway (Krone) 8.4704
Philippines (Peso) 50.52Poland (Zloty) 3.98Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7505Singapore (Dollar) 1.3483
South Korea (Won) 1,177.16Switzerland (Franc) .9134Thailand (Baht) 33.26Turkey (New Lira) 9.5661
(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger-many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur-chasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)
INTEREST RATES
Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093-month bill 0.0530-year bond 1.97
EXCHANGE RATES
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3
MILITARY
NAPLES, Italy — The arrival of
U.S. warships in the Black Sea in
support of NATO allies has once
again sparked the anger of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who said
one of the ships was in the “cross-
hairs” of the Russian military.
Putin made the comment to mili-
tary leaders on Monday in empha-
sizing Russia’s need to bolster its air
defenses. He cited the deployment
of NATO’s U.S.-led missile defense
system in Eastern Europe and mis-
sions by alliance ships in the Baltic
and Black seas, The Associated
Press reported.
“Even now, a U.S. warship has en-
tered the Black Sea and we can see it
in binoculars or crosshairs of our de-
fense systems,” Putin said during
the meeting in the southern Russian
city of Sochi.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Black Sea
Fleet said Tuesday that its warships
had practiced destroying enemy
targets, Reuters reported.
The destroyer USS Porter en-
tered the Black Sea on Saturday for
a routine patrol after participating
in NATO exercises in the Aegean
Sea, U.S. 6th Fleet said in a state-
ment.
“The crew of USS Porter looks
forward to entering the Black Sea to
maintain safety and stability
throughout the region,” said Cmdr.
Christopher Petro, the destroyer’s
commanding officer. “Our ability to
work alongside our NATO allies and
partners enhances our collective
readiness and overall maritime se-
curity.”
The USS Mount Whitney, the
flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet, arrived
Monday for a port visit in Istanbul
and will soon join Porter, U.S. 6th
Fleet said in a separate statement.
Mount Whitney remained in port
Tuesday, said Lt. Cmdr. Karl Schon-
berg, a fleet spokesman. The port is
considered to be the entrance of the
Black Sea.
The destroyer USS Arleigh Burke
also recently completed NATO ex-
ercises in the Baltic Sea, the Navy
said.
Russia has long complained
about NATO and U.S. warships in
the Black Sea, especially when they
sail near the Crimean Peninsula,
which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The international community still
considers Crimea a part of Ukraine.
Six nations border the Black Sea,
including several that hold training
exercises with the United States or
participate in patrols in its interna-
tional waters.
In June, tensions increased just
before an annual NATO military ex-
ercise in the Black Sea, with a Rus-
sian ship reportedly firing warning
shots at a British destroyer traveling
near Crimea. Some analysts charac-
terized that and other actions, such
as low overflights of a Dutch frigate
by Russian warplanes, as an escala-
tion in Moscow’s efforts to control
the region.
Still, some analysts said Putin’s
latest comments appeared less hos-
tile than previous ones.
“Remember, Moscow threat-
ened to attack NATO warships that
pass within 12 nautical miles of Cri-
mea, even legally as part of an inno-
cent passage,” said James R.
Holmes, the J.C. Wylie Chair of
Maritime Strategy at the U.S. Naval
War College in Newport, R.I. “Putin
did have a cutesy line about being
able to see USS Mount Whitney
through the crosshairs, but that’s
less over the top.”
Holmes said U.S. strategy is to
“ ‘fly, sail, and operate’ wherever
the law of the sea permits, in order to
preserve the right of way in waters
such as the Black Sea.”
Secondary objectives include
contesting Russian claims to sover-
eignty over Crimea, although free-
dom-of-navigation cruises may not
be as effective for that, he said.
“We are showing support for Uk-
raine and making a statement that
we can project power from the sea,
even (near) Russia,” Holmes said.
Jorge Benitez, an expert on Eu-
ropean security with the Atlantic
Council, a Washington-based think
tank, warned that Russia’s behavior
shows an escalatory pattern that
“will lead to more provocations and
perhaps even a confrontation with
NATO.”
“I believe that Putin’s direct
threats to U.S. naval vessels are
proof that Russia’s military aggres-
sion against NATO ships is ap-
proved at the highest levels in Mos-
cow,” Benitez said.
US warships in Black Sea draw Putin’s ireBY ALISON BATH
Stars and Stripes
Yoruk Isik
The USS Porter sails by Istanbul on Saturday. The destroyer is on a routine patrol in the Black Sea afterfinishing participation in NATO exercises in the Aegean Sea, Navy officials said.
bath.alison@stripes.comTwitter: @TMSWatchdog
Some 500 U.S. Marines staged a beach-
storming exercise in Israel during some of
the first bilateral military drills since a
major Pentagon realignment for the long-
time allies.
On Monday, the Israeli Defense Force
and the Bahrain-based U.S. Naval Forces
Central Command launched the amphib-
ious assault in Eilat, a Red Sea port town
near Jordan, the 51/5th Marine Expedi-
tionary Brigade said in a statement.
“This exercise is part of the next chapter
in the U.S. Navy’s and Marine Corps’ long-
standing relationship with Israel that is so
vital to stability and security in the re-
gion,” said Brig. Gen. Farrell Sullivan,
commander of the Marine task force.
The three-week training also involves
urban combat exercises, bomb disposal
drills and firing the High Mobility Artil-
lery Rocket System.
The exercise began days after Israeli
fighters escorted a U.S. Air Force bomber
on a patrol flight.
In September, U.S. Central Command
took control over American military rela-
tions with Israel. For decades, this had
been covered by U.S. European Command,
based in Stuttgart, Germany.
The transfer of responsibilities to
CENTCOM was touted by the military as a
means of ensuring better coordination be-
tween the U.S., Israel and the Arab Gulf
states.
The realignment was brought about in
part by a 2020 diplomatic breakthrough
brokered by the U.S. known as the Abra-
ham Accords, which resulted in the nor-
malization of relations between Israel and
the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Historically, the adversarial relationship
between Israel and U.S. partners in the
Gulf region was seen as an obstacle to
aligning CENTCOM with Israel.
But some security analysts have long ar-
gued that CENTCOM is the better strate-
gic fit for Israel, given that Iran is the main
security threat in its area, while EUCOM’s
principal focus is countering Russia.
Some of that expected coordination
among the U.S., Israel and various Arab
states was on display Saturday, when a
U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer conducted a
“presence patrol” with fighter plane es-
corts from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel and Sau-
di Arabia.
The five-hour, nonstop patrol originated
in the Indian Ocean and flew over various
strategic waterways.
US Marines train on Israeli beachwith CENTCOM now in control
BY JOHN VANDIVER
Stars and Stripes
vandiver.john@stripes.comTwitter: @john_vandiver
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A
five-day air exercise between the United
States and South Korea kicked off Monday
with little fanfare amid increased specula-
tion about the resumption of inter-Korean re-
lations.
The “low-key” joint drills consist of South
Korean F-15K Slam Eagle and KF-16 fighter
jets, a Korean air force officer told Stars and
Stripes on Tuesday on the customary condi-
tion of anonymity. About 100 aircraft are in-
volved from both countries, according to a
Monday report by the Yonhap News Agency.
A 7th Air Force spokesman at Osan Air
Base described the training as “routine” in an
email Tuesday. Lt. Col. Kelley Jeter declined
to provide further details, including the U.S.
aircraft involved, citing the military’s policy
against commenting on the joint exercises.
Previous air exercises in South Korea,
such as 2017’s Vigilant Ace, mobilized more
than 230 aircraft, including the fifth-genera-
tion F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter. The
joint exercise reaffirmed “mutual support
procedures” and improved “understanding
and trust between the two nations,” accord-
ing to a statement from the 51st Fighter Wing
at Osan.
U.S. personnel and aircraft were jointly
featured at last month’s annual Seoul Inter-
national Aerospace and Defense Exhibition.
Flyovers of U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcons and
C-17 Globemaster III airlifters demonstrated
their capabilities at the largest military exhi-
bition in Northeast Asia, in addition to air-
craft from other countries.
Joint military drills between the allies have
been scaled back in recent years and publi-
cizing them has nearly ceased amid the ebb
and flow of North Korean relations. The
North frequently rails against the drills in
propaganda statements that describe them
precursors to an invasion of the country.
U.S. and South Korean forces teamed up
for a computer-simulated military exercise
in August, despite Pyongyang’s protests. Pri-
or to that training, senior North Korean offi-
cial Kim Yong Chol described it as an “unfa-
vorable prelude further beclouding the fu-
ture of the inter-Korean relations.”
Senior officials from the U.S. and South Ko-
rea have traveled between the two countries
in recent weeks to discuss the resumption of
dialogue with the North. South Korean Presi-
dent Moon Jae-in’s administration has
pushed to declare a formal end to the 1950-53
Korean War, and the U.S. has called ongoing
discussions on that topic “very productive.”
US, S. Korea kick off ‘low-key’joint air drills with little fanfare
BY DAVID CHOI
Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to thisreport.choi.david@stripes.comTwitter: @choibboy
PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
MILITARY
An online forum is connecting
some of America’s oldest veterans
with youngsters interested in their
stories.
The Veterans Breakfast Club
started in 2008 as a monthly get-
together for World War II veter-
ans in Pittsburgh but became a se-
ries of online Zoom meetings as
the coronavirus pandemic spread
last year.
Most of those who join are mil-
itary veterans, but some young
people have begun tuning in, giv-
ing their elders a chance to pass on
stories and wisdom acquired from
their time in uniform.
One of the youths, Trey Bur-
man, 14, of Annapolis, Md., partic-
ipated in dozens of Zoom calls with
the veterans this year after his
grandfather recommended them.
His first meeting, which fea-
tured World War II triple fighter
ace Clarence “Bud” Anderson,
piqued the youngster’s interest, he
said in a Zoom interview Friday.
Anderson, 99, flew P-51 Mus-
tangs and racked up 16 ½ kills dur-
ing two tours against the German
Luftwaffe in Europe.
“After that I kept going to the
Zooms,” Trey said. “No matter the
topic, it’s very humbling to see
these people who have done the
impossible and come back.”
It’s inspiring to see the camara-
derie of veterans of all ages, gen-
ders and ethnicities on the Zoom
calls, he said.
One veteran interacting with
the youngsters is Donald Nem-
chick, 70, of Pittsburgh. The for-
mer Navy petty officer served
from 1970-74 at naval communi-
cation stations on Guam, Subic
Bay in the Philippines and Cam
Ranh Bay, South Vietnam.
He deployed aboard the aircraft
carrier USS Constellation, which
launched the final combat sorties
over Vietnam and Laos in July
1973, he said Friday via Zoom.
“Every veteran has a story,” is
the Veterans Breakfast Club ta-
gline, he said.
During the Vietnam War, Nem-
chick’s job involved communica-
tion with aviators and submarines
on missions across the Pacific.
“We had jets launching every
four to five seconds by steam cata-
pult,” the veteran told the young-
ster of his time on the carrier.
“The danger of that is so evident.”
He recalled night landings on a
pitch-black sea where aircraft
were caught by a tail hook on a ca-
ble across the deck.
“It’s important to give motiva-
tion and inspiration and some
leadership to these young men,”
Nemchick said of his interaction
with young people during Zoom
meetings. “It’s inspiring to me as a
veteran to see young men doing
what they should be doing.”
The son of a civilian sailing
coach at the U.S. Naval Academy,
Trey said the meetings have
firmed up his resolve to serve. His
goal is to become a Navy nuclear
engineer aboard a submarine and
eventually work in the civilian nu-
clear power industry.
Henry Schoepke, 14, of Madi-
son, Wis., collects veterans’ auto-
graphs and found the Veterans
Breakfast Club online. He has
tuned in regularly over the past
year, he said in a Zoom interview
Saturday.
Aprized autograph in his collec-
tion came from Julia Parsons, 100,
of Forest Hills, Pa., who served
with the Navy WAVES (Women
Accepted for Volunteer Emergen-
cy Service) during World War II
and helped crack secret codes
sent using the Nazi’s Enigma ma-
chine.
“She helped intercept messages
from German U-boats,” Henry
said.
Henry’s interactions with the
veterans have got him thinking
about a career in military history,
he said.
The move online during the
pandemic has massively in-
creased engagement for the veter-
ans who are talking to people all
over the world, Nemchick said.
The Veterans Breakfast Club
has a Zoom meeting that starts ev-
ery Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern
Time. Tune in through the group’s
website at:
veteransbreakfastclub.org.
SETH ROBSON/Stars and Stripes
The Veterans Breakfast Club started in 2008 as a monthly gettogether for World War II veterans inPittsburgh but became a series of online Zoom meetings as the coronavirus pandemic spread last year.
Young people are tuning in via Zoomto talk with America’s oldest veterans
BY SETH ROBSON
Stars and Stripes
robson.seth@stripes.comTwitter: @SethRobson1
Navy investigators said a nucle-
ar-powered, fast-attack subma-
rine was damaged last month after
running into an uncharted under-
sea mountain.
Monday’s findings follow a
nearly monthlong investigation
into the Oct. 2 incident in which
the USS Connecticut struck what
the Navy at the time referred to as
an “unidentified object.”
The collision injured several
crewmembers and damaged the
submarine, although the Navy has
not disclosed how many or to what
extent.
Navy investigators determined
the Connecticut struck an “un-
charted seamount,” or undersea
mountain, while it was operating
in international waters in the In-
do-Pacific region, according to a
U.S. 7th Fleet news release.
The investigation is being re-
ferred to 7th Fleet commander
Vice Adm. Karl Thomas to deter-
mine whether additional action or
discipline is warranted.
No additional information re-
garding the investigation was im-
mediately available, 7th Fleet
spokesman Lt. Nicholas Lingo told
Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
The exact location of the inci-
dent was not disclosed, but an un-
named defense official said it oc-
curred in the South China Sea, ac-
cording to an Oct. 8 report from
U.S. Naval Institute News.
One of three Seawolf-class sub-
marines, the Connecticut can sup-
port a crew of 140. Of those, nine
suffered minor injuries and two
suffered moderate injuries, ac-
cording to a Navy official who
spoke on condition of anonymity
to the Japan Times. The same offi-
cial reported that the sub arrived
in Guam on Oct. 8.
The collision happened the
same weekend an armada of 17
warships, including the aircraft
carriers USS Ronald Reagan, USS
Carl Vinson and HMS Queen El-
izabeth, trained together in the
Philippine Sea near Taiwan.
Meanwhile, nearly 150 Chinese
warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air
defense identification zone over a
four-day period beginning Oct. 1.
The Navy’s disclosure of the
Connecticut collision on Oct. 7
prompted criticism from China’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs the
next day. In addition to accusing
the United Statesof concealing de-
tails of the incident, spokesperson
Zhao Lijian called it another ex-
ample of the U.S. “making trouble
in the South China Sea in the name
of ‘freedom of navigation.’”
Lingo declined to comment on
the Connecticut’s current loca-
tion, although various outlets have
continued to report its presence in
Guam.
The incident closely mirrors
that of the USS San Francisco,
which struck an undersea sea-
mount 350 nautical miles south of
its homeport on Guam in 2005.
The collision resulted in 23 inju-
ries and one death, as well as sig-
nificant damage to its sonar dome
and bow structure.
TIMOTHY AGUIRRE/U.S. Navy
The nuclearpowered fastattack submarine USS Connecticut,pictured here in 2011, was damaged after striking an unchartedundersea mountain last month, according to Navy investigators.
Navy: Nuclear substruck unchartedundersea mountain
BY ALEX WILSON
Stars and Stripes
wilson.alex@stripes.comTwitter: @AlexMNWilson
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5
MILITARY
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South
Korea — A U.S. service member,
his wife and their child were killed
Monday night when their vehicle
collided with a tow truck in Pye-
ongtaek City, law enforcement and
fire officials told Stars and Stripes.
The collision occurred around 11
p.m. on the outskirts of Camp Hum-
phreys, the largest U.S. military
base overseas, a police investigator
said Tuesday on the customary
condition of anonymity.
The service member’s vehicle
and the tow truck collided at a
curve in a one-lane road, according
to investigators from a local police
department. A fire ensued, and the
three family members died before
firefighters arrived.
The truck driver, a 27-year-old
Korean man, survived the crash
and is being treated at a hospital,
police said.
Cars in South Korea typically
contain a “black box,” or camera
recorder. Officials say footage
from a witness’ car, as well as DNA
from those involved, were being
analyzed as part of the ongoing in-
vestigation.
Eighth Army said details of the
incident, including the names of
those involved, are being withheld
pending notification of their family
members.
“On the evening of November 1,
we had an incident that involved
the death of members of our com-
munity,” the command said in a
statement Tuesday. “We will re-
lease further comment and details
after the next-of-kin notification
process is complete for all in-
volved.”
About 28,500 U.S. troops are sta-
tioned in South Korea, the majority
of them at Camp Humphreys. The
base is home to Eighth Army, the
2nd Infantry Division and U.S.
Forces Korea.
NATIONAL FIRE AGENCY
South Korean firefighters respond to a vehicle collision near Camp Humphreys on Monday. A U.S. servicemember, his wife and their child were killed when their vehicle collided with a tow truck, officials said.
Vehicle collision kills USmilitary family in S. Korea
BY DAVID CHOI
AND YOO KYONG CHANG
Stars and Stripes
choi.david@stripes.comTwitter: @choibboy
Army noncommissioned officers
who have yet to complete mandato-
ry pre-promotion education cours-
es but are otherwise qualified will
be allowed to advance to their next
rank next year in an expansion of
the service’s temporary promotions
policy, the top enlisted soldier said
Monday.
The new policy will begin Jan. 1
and applies to all soldiers eligible
for promotion to the ranks of ser-
geant through master sergeant who
have been unable to complete re-
quired professional military educa-
tion courses for a variety of reasons,
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grin-
ston said. The soldiers would have
to complete the required courses —
for example the Basic Leader
Course for promotion to sergeant or
the Advanced Leader Course for
promotion to staff sergeant — with-
in the next year or they would revert
back to their prior rank, he added.
“This is about talent manage-
ment and promoting the best sol-
diers available,” Grinston said.
“Like a highly qualified individual
who through no fault of their own …
didn’t get a chance to go to that [pro-
fessional military education]
course.”
The Army has more eligible sol-
diers trying to attend such courses
than it can accommodate in its
schools, Grinston told reporters.
That leads to some top performing
soldiers missing their promotions
for reasons beyond their control.
The Army underestimated how
many soldiers that it would need to
send to those schools during its last
planning cycle, roughly four years
ago, he said.
Other soldiers have been unable
to attend mandatory schooling be-
cause of deployments and other is-
sues.
The Army announced a tempora-
ry promotion policy last year that
authorized promotions for other-
wise qualified soldiers to advance in
rank without finishing pre-promo-
tion training because they were de-
ployed in a combat zone or other
hostile area. The temporary promo-
tion policy also applied to those who
missed education courses because
of a pregnancy.
In developing the new policy,
Grinston said top service officials
were thinking about soldiers de-
ployed to noncombat zones in plac-
es such as South Korea or Europe,
where they spend months training
away from home and cannot attend
mandatory schooling.
“We’re trying to ensure we get
those individuals to school but not
disadvantage them for doing those
things we ask them to do as a sol-
dier,” Grinston said.
For now, the new policy expan-
sion will last for one year, Grinston
said, announcing it is set to expire
Dec. 31, 2022. However, the Army
will revisit the policy in September
to determine if it should be extend-
ed. The Army will also spend the
coming months determining if it
should add more instructors and
classes to its mandatory schools, he
said.
Last month, the Army approved a
similar temporary promotion poli-
cy for master sergeants to be pro-
moted to sergeants major before
completing the required Master
Leader Course. Beginning Monday,
the Army will not consider whether
master sergeants have finished that
course before promoting them to
sergeant major, however they must
then complete the Master Leader
Course within one year to retain that
top rank, officials said.
Army to promoteNCOs not donewith coursework
BY COREY DICKSTEIN
Stars and Stripes
dickstein.corey@stripes.comTwitter: @CDicksteinDC
The German state of Rhein-
land-Pfalz’s latest relaxation of
COVID-19 restrictions gives a
green light for beloved holiday
celebrations that traditionally
draw throngs of people.
Local outdoor Christmas mar-
kets and St. Martin marches,
which are popular with German
children, can proceed without at-
tendance limitations and mask re-
quirements.
Under the new rules, which
take effect Monday, open-air
events will no longer be limited to
25,000 people, and restrictions
will apply only if attendees need
tickets and will be seated at the
event.
The limit of one person per 54
square feet in public and commer-
cial spaces will also be removed.
Indoor restaurants, athletic fa-
cilities and cultural event spaces
will continue to adhere to the “2G-
plus rule,” a reference to the first
letter of the German words
“geimpft, genesen, getested,”
meaning “vaccinated, recovered
or tested.”
The policy often requires cus-
tomers to present proof that they
meet one of those three statuses.
“We’ve again adjusted the
guardrails to get safely through
the winter,” Rheinland-Pfalz gov-
ernor Malu Dreyer said in a state-
ment. “We’ll continue to need pro-
tective measures, like masks, dis-
tancing and 2G rules.”
The rule adjustments anticipate
an increase in outdoor activity
during the holiday season in vari-
ous cities’ historic downtowns,
which often contain narrow alleys
and draw large crowds of visitors.
Restrictions were relaxed again
despite a sustained rise in CO-
VID-19 infections in Rheinland-
Pfalz.
Officials acknowledged the in-
crease, especially in vulnerable
demographics, and noted the
growing workload for local hospi-
tals. With 628 new infections this
week alone, the state has regis-
tered 194,440 total cases since the
beginning of the pandemic.
Rheinland-Pfalz is home to the
largest U.S. military community
in Europe, with a population of
50,000 spread between Ramstein
Air Base and several other Army
and Air Force installations in the
state.
Rheinland-Pfalz relaxes its restrictionsin time for popular Christmas markets
BY ALEXANDER RIEDEL
Stars and Stripes
riedel.alexander@stripes.com
Two Wyoming-based airmen
died early Saturday morning on a
northern Colorado highway when
their car was hit head-on by another
vehicle that crossed into their lane,
according to Air Force officials and
law enforcement.
Senior Airman Yasmin Evans, 22,
and Senior Airman Taylor Ashley,
24, were assigned to F.E. Warren Air
Force Base near Cheyenne, which is
about 15 miles from the Wyoming
border with Colorado. The accident
occurred along Highway 85 about 3
miles into Colorado’s Weld County,
according to Colorado State Patrol.
“This is a horrible loss that im-
pacts many members of our team,”
said Col. Catherine Barrington,
commander of the 90th Missile
Wing at Warren Air Force Base. “As
a wing, we will focus on mourning,
remembering our friends and heal-
ing with our teammates.”
Two 30-year-old men also died in
the accident, the state patrol said.
2 airmen killed in car crashBY ROSE L. THAYER
Stars and Stripes
PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
“Because of some of the sensi-
tivities of this particular vaccine, I
think that we just wanted to en-
sure that we were consistent and
equitable” in meting out a puni-
shment that would be “a repercus-
sion of continuing to refuse a valid
order.”
Military vaccination rates are
higher than those of the general
population in the United States
and the reasons for objecting to
the shots — often based on misin-
formation — are similar to those
typically heard throughout the
country. But unlike most civilians,
military personnel are routinely
required to get as many as 17 vac-
cines, and face penalties for refus-
ing.
The military services are re-
porting that between 1%-7% re-
main unvaccinated. Defense Sec-
retary Lloyd Austin has called for
compassion in dealings with those
troops, which totals nearly 60,000
active duty service members, ac-
cording to data released last week.
Officials have said the numbers
change daily, and include those
who may have gotten or requested
an exemption. They have declined
to say how many troops are still
seeking an exemption or refused
the vaccine.
Asked about possible variations
in the treatment of those seeking
exemptions or refusing the vac-
cine, Pentagon press secretary
John Kirby said it’s up to the ser-
vices.
“Each case is going to be treated
specifically and individually as it
ought to be,” he said.
Kirby said Monday that the sec-
retary doesn’t want to tell com-
manders how to resolve the puni-
tive measures, and instead trusts
that they will do what is best for
their units.
“So can we promise you that
there will be absolute uniformity
across the board? No. And we
wouldn’t want to promise that be-
cause it wouldn’t be the same way
we handle the orders violations for
other offenses as well,” said Kir-
by.
It unclear how widely religious
exemptions will be granted. Un-
der military rules, commanders
can take into account the potential
impact on a unit’s mission, and re-
ject a religious exemption if it puts
performance at risk.
Commanders can also move
service members into another job,
deny them overseas deployment
or limit unit access if they get an
exemption or while a request is
being reviewed. Those steps may
be more common in smaller units
such as special operations forces,
who usually deploy in small num-
bers.
The Navy has warned that sail-
ors who refuse the shot and don’t
get an exemption may have to re-
fund bonuses and other financial
payments, based on existing mil-
itary justice procedures for dis-
obeying a lawful order. The other
services are expected to follow
similar procedures.
Unvaccinated troops will also
be subject to routine testing, dis-
tancing guidelines and possibly
travel restrictions.
The Air Force may be the test
case in some instances, because
they are the first to hit a deadline.
The more than 335,000 airmen
and Space Force guardians must
be fully vaccinated by Tuesday,
and the Air Guard and Reserve by
Dec. 2.
According to Air Force data, as
many as 12,000 active duty airmen
and guardians were still unvacci-
nated as of late last week. Some of
them have requested or gotten ex-
emptions, while others have re-
fused outright.
Air Force Col. Robert Corby,
commander of the 28th Medical
Group at Ellsworth Air Force
Base, said that after the vaccine
became mandatory in late August,
appointments for shots at the base
clinic doubled.
He said troops have an array of
questions and concerns, and com-
manders, chaplains and medical
personnel are providing informa-
tion.
“I think you also have a segment
of the population that probably
does not feel that they are really at
risk for COVID-19,” he added.
Air Force Capt. Molly Lawlor,
28th Bomb Wing chaplain, said a
“very small percentage” are seek-
ing a religious exemption at the
base.
“People are just trying to figure
out how this new requirement fits
into their belief system and the de-
cisions that they want to make,”
she said.
The more than 765,000 Defense
Department civilians will be close
behind the Air Force, with a man-
dated vaccine date of Nov. 22. Su-
pervisors are grappling with the
complex task of checking and re-
cording the vaccine status of their
workers, and determining who
will be the final exemption arbi-
ter.
Penalties: Up to 7% of active forces remain unvaccinatedFROM PAGE 1
MILITARY
WASHINGTON — The Air
Force announced 40 recruits have
been kicked out of the service for
refusing the coronavirus vaccine
ahead of the service’s Nov. 2 dead-
line to get the shots, service spo-
keswoman Ann Stefanek said
Monday.
About 23 of the 40 were in basic
training, while the others had
completed basic training and
were undergoing their technical
training when they were separat-
ed from the service, Stefanek said.
The recruits received entry-level
discharges, meaning they may re-
enlist if they choose to get the vac-
cine in the future.
Entry-level discharges can be
given to troops who have served
less than 180 days and typically
carry no discharge designations,
such as good, bad or other-than-
honorable characterizations, ac-
cording to the service.
The discharges came a day be-
fore the vaccination deadline
looms for the Air Force and Space
Force. As of Tuesday, all active-
duty airmen were required to be
fully vaccinated or potentially
face separation.
About 94.6% of the active-duty
force in the Air Force and Space
Force were fully vaccinated as of
the Air Force’s last update Oct. 26.
About 98.2% had received at least
one dose of the vaccine. The Pen-
tagon does not consider a person
fully vaccinated until two weeks
have passed since their final dose.
That means about 1.8% of the ac-
tive-duty troops in the Air Force
and Space Force — or up to about
5,950 airmen and 115 guardians —
continue to decline the vaccine.
There were 330,678 active-duty
troops in the Air Force and 6,434
in the Space Force as of Sept. 30,
according to the services.
Chief Pentagon spokesman
John Kirby said Monday, howev-
er, that about 97% of active-duty
airmen and guardians are fully
vaccinated, which would put the
number of unvaccinated troops at
about 10,000.
Across the services, about 97%
of active-duty troops have re-
ceived at least one dose of the vac-
cine, though a fraction have sub-
mitted exemption requests for re-
ligious, medical or other adminis-
trative reasons.
By service, about 92% of the Ma-
rine Corps, 93% of the Army and
99% of the Navy are at least par-
tially vaccinated, according to the
services’ latest data.
The Air Force’s active-duty
deadline is the earliest of the ser-
vice branches. Active-duty troops
in the Marine Corps and Navy
must be vaccinated by Nov. 28,
and soldiers have until by Dec. 15,
according to the services.
The Tuesday deadline only af-
fects active-duty airmen. Those in
the Air Force Reserve and Air Na-
tional Guard have until Dec. 2 to
become fully vaccinated.
While the Air Force does not
break down vaccination rates for
Guard and Reserve units, about
88.9% of the entire department
were fully vaccinated as of Oct. 25.
Civilian employees of the feder-
al government have until Nov. 22
to reach full vaccination status,
and contractors have until Dec. 8,
according to an executive order
signed Sept. 9 by President Joe Bi-
den.
While Air Force officials have
said active-duty airmen and
guardians who decline the vac-
cine after Tuesday will be booted
from the service, it’s unclear what
will happen to those who are par-
tially vaccinated and planning to
receive their final shots.
“Military commanders retain
the full range of disciplinary op-
tions available to them under Arti-
cle 92 of the [Uniform Code of Mil-
itary Justice],” Stefanek said, re-
ferring to the provision of military
law that governs the failure to
obey an order.
Penalties for failing to obey an
order can include dishonorable
discharge, pay forfeiture or up to
two years of jail time, according to
the UCMJ.
“Our goal is to ensure as many
airmen and guardians as possible
receive the vaccine. Military com-
manders have a range of options
available to encourage their ser-
vice members to receive the vac-
cine,” Stefanek said. “This is
about force health protection —
not punishment.”
Some who have refused the
shots might have submitted re-
quests to exempt themselves from
the vaccine mandate for health,
religious or other administrative
reasons.
The Air Force has declined to
say how many requests have been
received, but spokeswoman Rose
Riley said last week that the ser-
vice was “working toward provid-
ing the total number of exemption
approvals” issued.
USAF dismisses 40recruits, traineeswho denied vaccine
BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS
Stars and Stripes
doornbos.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
TORY PATTERSON/59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
Lt. Col. Kevin White, a doctor who coordinates coronavirus vaccines for the 59th Medical Wing, discussesthe vaccination process in May with a basic trainee from the 37th Training Wing at Wilford Hall AmbulatorySurgical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7
facility where clashes broke out as
two blasts struck. Another doctor
there also said he heard gunfire.
Both spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media.
The Taliban’s deputy spokes-
man, Bilal Karimi, told The Wash-
ington Post that two suicide
bombs targeted the hospital in
central Kabul, but did not com-
ment on reports of gunmen enter-
ing the building.
“No one was killed inside the
hospital,” the Taliban spokesman
said. He said Taliban guards
thwarted ISIS plans to target med-
ical staff and patients in the 400-
bed facility.
He said Taliban special forces
were subsequently deployed and
searched the hospital and that a
helicopter was used in the oper-
ation.
Health officials said 16 people
were wounded in the attack on the
Sardar Mohammad Dawood
Khan hospital in Kabul’s 10th dis-
trict. Mujahid said five Taliban
fighters were among the wound-
ed.
Earlier, another Taliban official
had said the attack was carried out
by six men, and that two of them
were captured.
During the attack, city residents
had reported two explosions in the
area, along with the sound of gun-
fire.
Blast: At least 16 wounded in ISIS attack on Kabul hospitalFROM PAGE 1
AFGHANISTAN
KABUL — As a military com-
mander, Maulavi Mahdi never
captured territory or killed Amer-
icans in battle. Yet the Taliban
considers the 33-year-old ethnic
Hazara a godsend.
Last year, the militants made
Mahdi a shadow district governor
in his birthplace. Then they show-
cased a video of him on their web-
site to glorify his credentials. On a
recent trip to Kabul, he was
housed in a large villa with a gar-
den, which the Taliban typically
reserves for its most senior lead-
ers. Mahdi knows why.
“I am a bridge between the Ta-
liban and the Hazara communi-
ty,” he said.
Of all the history the Taliban
has with other Afghan groups,
none is more tortured than the
one with the country’s Hazara mi-
nority. When they first rose to
power in the mid-1990s, the hard-
line Sunni militants massacred,
kidnapped and uprooted thou-
sands of Shiite Hazaras, declaring
them infidels. They destroyed
Hazara cultural heritage sites and
extended their political and eco-
nomic marginalization by differ-
ent Afghan regimes. Tens of thou-
sands of Hazaras have fled the
country.
How the Taliban treats Hazaras
in its new regime will serve as an
essential barometer to gauge the
militants’ claim that they have
changed and deserve internation-
al recognition and financial sup-
port.
On one level, Mahdi’s elevation
represents a change from the past
— one based on strategic calcula-
tions to attract local support in mi-
nority communities and create
the semblance of diversity within
the militants’ ranks. To that end,
the Taliban has dispatched Mahdi
to Hazara areas as an emissary
and set up informal Shiite courts
for the first time to attract more
Hazaras.
“This new Islamic Emirate is
not the same as the old Islamic
Emirate,” said Mahdi, wearing a
black turban as he squeezed a
string of yellow prayer beads. “It
is dominated by religious scholars
who do not act based on ethnicity,
but only on establishing an Islam-
ic system.”
Yet Mahdi is also a stark re-
minder of the limits of the Tali-
ban’s professed intentions. In
peace talks this year, the predom-
inantly ethnic Pashtun militants
promised Afghans and the inter-
national community that the
rights and aspirations of Hazaras
and other ethnic and tribal groups
would be enshrined in an inclu-
sive Afghanistan.
But in the Taliban’s interim
government, none of the 33 cabi-
net members are Hazara. Last
month, Taliban officials in five
provinces forcibly evicted hun-
dreds of Hazara families from
their homes and farms, according
to Human Rights Watch. And re-
cently, senior Taliban officials
met families of suicide bombers to
hand them cash and promises of
land. Many had killed hundreds of
Hazaras in attacks.
Mahdi holds a minor post inside
the Taliban: He is now the Tali-
ban’s intelligence chief in Bamian
province, a mostly Hazara region.
Skeptics have said he’s a foil to
prevent a full-fledged Hazara up-
rising, rather than a serious agent
of reconciliation.
“He’s not the kind of national
figure that could appeal to the
Hazara community,” said Ali Adi-
li, an Afghan researcher focusing
on the Hazara community who re-
cently fled to Northern Virginia.
“He’s young and also not well
educated.”
The Taliban also has yet to
properly investigate or discipline
any of its fighters or loyalists for
crimes they’ve committed against
Hazaras, community leaders and
analysts said.
“That would have sent a much
stronger message,” said Ashley
Jackson, an expert on the Taliban
at the Overseas Development In-
stitute. “That kind of accountabil-
ity would have been more mea-
ningful to a lot of people, both in
the Hazara community and the in-
ternational community, as op-
posed to trotting out a symbolic
Hazara.”
Mahdi, she added, is a “a public
relations attempt,” at best. “It
feels very cosmetic.”
Taliban trying to woo Shiites with Hazara emissaryBY SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN
The Washington Post
LORENZO TUGNOLI/The Washington Post
Maulavi Mahdi, a Shiite cleric from the Hazara ethnic group and theTaliban’s intelligence chief for Bamian province, poses for a portrait inKabul last month.
PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON — The federal
government will require compa-
nies with at least 100 workers to
provide paid time off for employees
to get vaccinated against COVID-19
and paid sick leave to recover from
effects of the shots, a Biden admin-
istration official said Monday.
Those requirements will be part
of a pending federal rule that will
spell out how large employers will
meet a requirement that workers
be vaccinated or tested regularly
for the virus.
The White House budget office
has completed its review of the rule
being written by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration,
which is expected to be released
this week.
The rule — issued under emer-
gency standards to respond to the
pandemic — will cover firms with
100 or more employees, regardless
of how many are located in any par-
ticular spot.
“Covered employers must devel-
op, implement and enforce a man-
datory COVID-19 vaccination poli-
cy, unless they adopt a policy re-
quiring employees to choose either
to get vaccinated or to undergo reg-
ular COVID-19 testing and wear a
face covering at work,” a Labor De-
partment spokesperson said Mon-
day. The rule “also requires em-
ployers to provide paid time to
workers to get vaccinated and paid
sick leave to recover from any side
effects.”
The official said that the Office of
Management and Budget complet-
ed its review of the OSHA rule on
Monday, and the rule will be pub-
lished in the Federal Register “in
the coming days.”
The spokesperson declined to
give further details, saying that the
administration “will provide fur-
ther updates when we have more
information. ”
Separately, the administration
will give federal contractors broad
authority on how to treat employ-
ees who refuse to be vaccinated, ac-
cording to guidelines that the White
House issued Monday.
Under an executive order that
President Joe Biden issued in Sep-
tember, contractors have until Dec.
8to ensure that employees are fully
vaccinated. The order has met re-
sistance from some workers at
large employers with federal con-
tracts, including American Airlines
and Southwest Airlines. The CEO
of Southwest said his airline would
not fire anybody for refusing to get
the shots.
US will make large firms give paid time off for vaccinationsAssociated Press
NEW YORK — About 9,000 New
York City municipal workers were
put on unpaid leave for refusing to
comply with a COVID-19 vaccine
mandate that took effect Monday
and thousands of city firefighters
have called out sick in an apparent
protest over the requirement,
Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
About 9 in 10 city workers cov-
ered by the mandate have gotten
vaccinated and there have been no
disruptions to city services as a re-
sult of staffing shortages, de Blasio
told reporters at his daily news
briefing. New York has more than
300,000 city employees.
Firehouses remained open, but
18 of the department’s 350 units
were out of service and “many
units are understaffed,” Fire Com-
missioner Daniel Nigro said. San-
itation workers made an extra
pickup on Sunday to ensure trash
wouldn’t pile up, the mayor said.
“I want to thank everyone who
got vaccinated,” de Blasio said.
“Thank you for getting vaccinated.
Thank you for doing the right
thing. Thank you for moving us
forward.”
City officials have been battling
fierce resistance among a minori-
ty of workers in some critical pub-
lic safety jobs, including police of-
ficers and firefighters, as well as a
pending legal challenge to the
mandate by the city’s largest po-
lice union.
As of Sunday, 1 in 4 of the city’s
uniformed firefighters still hadn’t
gotten a first dose of the vaccine, as
required. About 1 in 6 police per-
sonnel and 1 in 6 sanitation work-
ers were still unvaccinated.
Police Commissioner Dermot
Shea said the vast majority of un-
vaccinated workers in his depart-
ment have applied for religious or
medical exemptions to the vaccine
mandate. So far, just 34 police offi-
cers and 40 civilian police employ-
ees have been placed on unpaid
leave, he said.
More than 3,500 city workers
were vaccinated over the week-
end. That was after a 5 p.m. Friday
deadline to collect a $500 bonus for
showing proof they’d gotten a dose
of the vaccine but before they were
to be put on unpaid leave.
About 12,000 workers have ap-
plied for religious or medical ex-
emptions. They can remain on the
job while city officials review
those applications.
About 2,300 firefighters were
out sick, up from what’s normally
about 1,000 per day, in what Nigro
said appeared to be a protest
against the vaccine mandate. The
fire department’s medical office
normally sees about 200 people a
day, Nigro said. The past week, it
has been 700 a day, the majority
unvaccinated.
“I’ve asked them to rethink this,
to remember their oath of office,”
Nigro said. “It’s not only affecting
the people they serve, it’s affecting
their brothers and sisters in the de-
partment who are forced to fill
their spots.”
JEENAH MOON/AP
A U.S. flag flies outside FDNY Firehouse, Engine 307, Ladder 154 on Monday in New York.
9K NYC workers on leave asvaccine mandate takes effect
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Anticipating
a green light from vaccine advis-
ers, the Biden administration is as-
sembling and shipping millions of
COVID-19 shots for children ages
5-11, the White House said Mon-
day. The first could go into kids’
arms by midweek.
“We are not waiting on the oper-
ations and logistics,” said corona-
virus coordinator Jeff Zients.
By vaccinating children, the
United Stateshopes to head off an-
other coronavirus wave during the
cold-weather months when people
spend more time indoors and re-
spiratory illnesses can spread
more easily. Cases have been de-
clining for weeks, but the virus has
repeatedly shown its ability to
stage a comeback and more easily
transmissible mutations are a per-
sistent threat.
On Tuesday, a special advisory
panel to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention will meet
to consider detailed recommenda-
tions for administering the Pfizer-
BioNTech vaccine to younger chil-
dren. The Food and Drug Admin-
istration already cleared the shots,
which deliver about one-third of
the vaccine given to adults. After
CDC advisers make their recom-
mendations, agency director Dr.
Rochelle Walensky will give the fi-
nal order.
Zients said the government has
enough of the Pfizer vaccine for all
28 million children in the 5-11 age
group. “We’re in great shape on
supply,” Zients said during the
White House coronavirus brief-
ing.
The children’s vaccination
drive is expected to start later this
week and go into full swing by next
week. Parents will be able to go to
vaccines.gov and filter on vac-
cines for children 5-11 to find a lo-
cation near them that is offering
the shot.
Pfizer’s vaccine already has
been authorized for use in older
children.
After the FDA gave its autho-
rization for younger children, the
Biden administration asked states,
territories and other jurisdictions
to place their initial orders. Work-
ers at the drug company and at dis-
tribution centers began the proc-
ess of preparing and packing 15
million doses, said Zients.
“More doses will be packed and
shipped and delivered,” he added.
“More and more vaccine will come
on line as we ramp up.”
The goal is for parents to have a
range of options for getting chil-
dren vaccinated, from pediatri-
cians’ offices to clinics and phar-
macies.
Walensky acknowledged both a
sense of urgency and concern
about getting children vaccinated.
She stressed that clinical trials of
the Pfizer vaccine for children
have found it highly effective in
preventing serious disease, with
no severe adverse reactions in
safety and efficacy trials.
“There has been a great deal of
anticipation from parents,” Wa-
lensky said. “I encourage parents
to ask questions.”
Separately, Zients announced
that about 70% of U.S. adults are
now fully vaccinated, while 80%
have received at least one vaccine
dose.
Vaccine for youngerkids already beingpacked and shipped
BY RICARDO
ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press
“We are notwaiting on theoperations andlogistics.”
Jeff Zients
White House coronavirus coordinator
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9
NATION
ATLANTA — Voters began
casting ballots across the U.S.
early Tuesday in the first wave of
elections to test new Republican
restrictions on the ballot and give
elections officials a chance to
counter a year’s worth of misinfor-
mation about voting security.
Officials said demonstrating se-
cure, consistent and fair practices
could help reassure those who still
have doubts about last year’s pres-
idential election as they begin
preparations for next year’s mid-
terms.
“It is a great dress rehearsal for
2022,” said Minnesota Secretary of
State Steve Simon.
Much of the attention will be on
Virginia and New Jersey, where
voters are casting ballots for gov-
ernor and other statewide races.
For the rest of the country, voters
were making selections on a varie-
ty of local races, ranging from
mayor and city council to school
board and bond measures. Voters
in Maine, New York, Texas and a
few other few states were consid-
ering ballot initiatives on a wide
array of topics.
For some, the voting experience
will be different from last year,
when officials implemented pan-
demic-related changes to make it
easier for voters to avoid crowded
polling places. Some states have
made those changes permanent,
while others have rolled some of
them back.
In Virginia, lawmakers last year
expanded absentee voting perma-
nently by no longer requiring an
excuse. But a requirement for a
witness signature on absentee bal-
lots that was waived last year is
back, and officials have been
working to contact voters who
have been turning in ballots with-
out them. Those voters will have
until Friday to fix the issue or their
ballots will not be counted.
In a few states, voters were en-
countering tighter voting rules be-
cause of laws enacted in states con-
trolled politically by Republicans.
Among them are Florida and Ge-
orgia, where voters face new ID
requirements for using mail bal-
lots.
Republicans have said their
changes were needed to improve
security and public confidence fol-
lowing the 2020 presidential elec-
tion. They acted as former Presi-
dent Donald Trump continued his
false claims that the election was
stolen despite no evidence of wide-
spread fraud.
These claims were rejected by
judges and election officials of
both parties who certified the re-
sults and Trump’s own attorney
general, who said federal law en-
forcement had not seen fraud “on a
scale that could have effected a dif-
ferent outcome in the election.”
Voting rights groups said vari-
ous hotlines would be available to
assist voters who have questions or
encounter problems at the polls or
with their mail ballots. Damon He-
witt, whose group the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law leads the effort, said Tuesday
presented an important test.
“It’s a test of voters to run the
gauntlet, to figure out these new
rules and restrictions,” Hewitt
said. “And frankly, it’s also a test of
our democracy: How strong can it
be, and are we willing to tolerate
these efforts to make it harder for
people to vote.”
Tuesday also will be an opportu-
nity for election officials to edu-
cate voters about how the system
works and counter the misinfor-
mation that still surrounds the
2020 presidential vote. False
claims have led to harassment and
even death threats against state
and local election officials.
“We have to do more to combat
it, get in front of it and frankly edu-
cate the public about the voting
process,” said Amber McRey-
nolds, former Denver elections
clerk and CEO of the National Vote
at Home Institute. “Because part
of the reason that there is disinfor-
mation and it has been able to flow
as it has, is that the vast majority of
Americans don’t understand how
the election process works.”
Elections showcase security, new lawsBY CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
AND ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press
DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD/AP
Poll workers assist voters Tuesday in Miami Beach, Fla. Officials said demonstrating secure, consistentand fair voting practices could help reassure those who have doubts about last year’s presidential election.
LOS ANGELES — A California
judge has ruled for top drug manu-
facturers as local governments seek
billions of dollars to cover their costs
from the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Orange County Superior Court
Judge Peter Wilson issued a tenta-
tive ruling on Monday that said the
governments hadn’t proven the
pharmaceutical companies used
deceptive marketing to increase un-
necessary opioid prescriptions and
create a public nuisance.
“There is simply no evidence to
show that the rise in prescriptions
was not the result of the medically
appropriate provision of pain medi-
cations to patients in need,” Wilson
wrote in a ruling of more than 40
pages.
“Any adverse downstream con-
sequences flowing from medically
appropriate prescriptions cannot
constitute an actionable public nui-
sance,” the ruling said.
Los Angeles, Orange and Santa
Clara counties and the city of Oak-
land argued that the pharmaceuti-
cal companies misled both doctors
and patients by downplaying the
risks of addictions, overdoses,
deaths and other health complica-
tions while overstating the benefits
for long-term health conditions.
The plaintiffs said they were dis-
appointed by the ruling but planned
to appeal to “ensure no opioid manu-
facturer can engage in reckless cor-
porate practices that compromise
public health in the state for their
own profit.”
The lawsuit names Johnson &
Johnson, along with AbbVie Inc.’s
Allergan subsidiary, Endo Interna-
tional, Teva Pharmaceutical Indus-
tries and others. The companies had
argued in court filings “that opioid
medications are an appropriate
treatment for many chronic-pain
patients” and that much of their
marketing mimicked approved
warnings by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
Historically, the local jurisdic-
tions say, the powerful drugs had
been used only immediately after
surgeries or for other acute, short-
term pain, or for cancer or palliative
care. The drugmakers “successful-
ly transformed the way doctors
treat chronic pain, opening the
floodgates of opioid prescribing and
use,” the lawsuit contended. “This
explosion in opioid prescriptions
and use has padded Defendants’
profit margins at the expense of
chronic pain patients.”
The federal government says
nearly a half-million Americans
have died from opioid abuse since
2001.
All sides have acknowledged that
there is an opioid abuse epidemic.
Wilson said drug abuse hospitali-
zations and overdose deaths “stark-
ly demonstrate the enormity of the
ongoing problem.”
In a statement, Johnson & John-
son said the “crisis is a tremendous-
ly complex public health issue,” but
the decision showed it engaged in
“appropriate and responsible” mar-
keting of its prescription painkillers.
The plaintiffs projected that,
based on experts’ estimates, it could
cost $50 billion to provide compre-
hensive opioid abatement pro-
grams in the four jurisdictions that
filed the lawsuit.
Drug firms win Calif. suit seekingrecovery of costs of opioid crisis
Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — Americans’
opinions on the U.S. economy have
soured noticeably in the past month,
anew poll finds, with nearly half ex-
pecting economic conditions to
worsen in the next year.
Just 35% of Americans now call
the national economy good, while
65% call it poor, according to a poll
by The Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs Research.
That’s a dip since September, when
45% of Americans called the econo-
my good, and a return to about
where views of the nation’s econo-
my stood in January and February,
when the pandemic was raging
across the nation.
The deterioration in Americans’
economic sentiments comes as the
cost of goods is rising nationwide,
particularly gas prices, and bottle-
necks in the global supply chain
have made purchasing more diffi-
cult. The Labor Department recent-
ly reported that consumer prices in
September rose 5.4% from a year
earlier, the largest one-year in-
crease since 2008.
Nadine Christian, 56, said she’s
been concerned about the rising
cost of living the past year.
“I grew up in the 1970s and I re-
member it was hard for my parents
to make ends meet,” Christian said,
referring to the last time the U.S.
economy was severely impacted by
high inflation. “It’s not quite as bad
as it was back then but I feel like any
day we could go off the rails.”
Roughly half of Americans — 47%
—now say they expect the economy
to get worse in the next year, com-
pared with just 30% who think it will
get better. In an AP-NORC poll con-
ducted in February and March, the
situation was reversed: 44% expect-
ed the economy to get better in the
year ahead and just 32% said it
would get worse.
Earlier this year, 70% of Demo-
crats said they expected the econo-
my to get better. Now, 51% do. And
the share of Republicans who think
the economy will get worse has
grown to 74% from 59% in that span.
About half of Americans, 49%,
now say they’re highly confident
they could pay an unexpected bill of
$1,000, up from 36% in March of
2020 and 40% in June of 2019.
Poll: Amid inflation woes,Americans sour on economy
Associated Press
PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
NATION
SEQUOIA CREST, Calif. —
Ashtyn Perry was barely as tall as
the shovel she stomped into bar-
ren ground where a wildfire last
year ravaged the California
mountain community of Sequoia
Crest and destroyed dozens of its
signature behemoth trees.
The 13-year-old with a broad
smile and a braid running to her
waist had a higher purpose that —
if successful — she’ll never live to
see: to plant a baby sequoia that
could grow into a giant and live for
millennia.
“It’s really cool knowing it could
be a big tree in like a thousand
years,” she said.
The bright green seedling that
barely reached Perry’s knees is
part of an unusual project to plant
offspring from some of the largest
and oldest trees on the planet to
see if genes that allowed the par-
ent to survive so long will protect
new growth from the perils of cli-
mate change.
The effort led by the Archangel
Ancient Tree Archive, a Michigan
nonprofit that preserves the ge-
netics of old-growth trees, is one
of many extraordinary measures
being taken to save giant sequoias
that were once considered nearly
fire-proof but are at risk of being
wiped out by more intense wild-
fires.
The giant sequoia is the world’s
largest tree by volume and closely
related to the redwood, the
world’s tallest. Sequoias grow nat-
urally only in a 260-mile belt of
forest on the western slopes of the
Sierra Nevada mountains. They
have a massive trunk and can
grow over 300 feet tall. The coast
redwood is more slender and is
native near the Pacific Ocean in
Northern California.
Giant sequoias — and redwoods
— are some of the best fire-adapt-
ed plants. Thick bark protects
their trunks, and their canopies
can be so high they are out of re-
ach of flames. Sequoias even rely
on fire to help open their cones to
disperse seeds, and flames clear
undergrowth so seedlings can
take root and get sunlight.
In recorded history, large sequ-
oias had never incinerated before
2015. Destruction of the majestic
trees hit unprecedented levels last
year when 10% to 14% of the esti-
mated 75,000 trees larger than 4
feet in diameter burned. Thou-
sands more potentially were lost
this year during fires that burned
into 27 groves — about a third of
all groves — in Sequoia National
Park and the adjacent Sequoia
National Forest. Scientists are still
tallying the damage.
Climate change and a century
of policies emphasizing extin-
guishing wildland blazes rather
than letting some burn to prevent
bigger future fires are to blame,
said Christy Brigham, chief of re-
source management and science
at Sequoia and Kings Canyon Na-
tional Parks. Hotter droughts
have led to more intense fires that
have burned through fuels accu-
mulated through fire suppression.
Last year’s destruction to the
sequoias brought Brigham to
tears.
“They’re so big and so old and
so individual and iconic and quir-
ky that even people who don’t love
trees, love them. They speak for
all the trees,” Brigham said. “The
fact that we’ve now created fires
that they can’t survive is very
heartbreaking.”
To save the trees this year, ex-
treme measures were taken, in-
cluding wrapping trunks of the
largest trees in a fire-resistant
foil, setting up sprinklers, raking
the flammable matter from
around the trees and even using
gel in the canopies to repel flames.
But those labor-intensive mea-
sures are not practical, Brigham
said. More needs to be done be-
fore fire approaches, including
thinning vegetation and using pre-
scribed burns to reduce the buil-
dup of vegetation. They are also
thinking about replanting.
One of the areas that burned in-
tensely last year was the Alder
Creek grove, where the Sequoia
Crest community has stood since
the middle of last century. Half
the 100 homes and cabins were de-
stroyed, leaving empty concrete
foundations next to charred tree
stumps. Some blackened giants
still stand sentry on steep hillsides
in the area, 150 miles north of Los
Angeles.
It was in that grove, one of the
few privately owned, that Archan-
gel had gathered cones and taken
clippings over the past decade to
clone and preserve the genes of
two of the oldest and largest trees.
One of those trees, named Stagg,
the world’s fifth-largest, survived
while the fire killed one named
Waterfall.
“Talk about divine providence,”
said David Milarch, co-founder of
Archangel. “Little did we know
that Waterfall would burn down
two years ago and we’d have the
only seedlings of that tree.”
Milarch’s mission is to archive
the genetics of ancient trees,
breed them and replant them. He
believes the oldest trees have su-
perior genes that enabled them to
live through drought, disease and
fire and will give their offspring a
better chance of survival.
When Milarch took clippings
and cones from Stagg and Water-
fall, the grove was still privately
owned. But it was bought two
years ago by Save the Redwoods
League.
The league is already replant-
ing in the grove to study if seed-
lings can survive where high-se-
verity fire destroyed any ability
for trees to naturally reproduce,
said Joanna Nelson, science direc-
tor for the organization.
While Nelson wouldn’t rule out
using seedlings from Stagg, esti-
mated to be 3,000 years old, the
project is designed to find the best
genetic diversity to increase their
survival.
“That genetic makeup served
that tree very well for the past
3,000 years,” Nelson said. “How-
ever, we know that the next 3,000
years are going to be more diffi-
cult —- in terms of warming and
drying land and air and bigger
wildfires that are more frequent.
We have conditions coming that
these trees haven’t experienced.”
Nelson applauded the effort by
Sequoia Crest to replant.
Residents who lost homes and
those who were spared banded to-
gether to excavate water pipes to
provide irrigation for the seed-
lings and, along with Archangel
workers and volunteers, dug holes
under a thin coat of snow last
week and planted small green
flags to mark planting locations.
Uta Kogelsberger, whose cabin
was destroyed, said she doesn’t
plan to rebuild but wants to leave
a legacy she will probably never
see.
“We are all in some ways re-
sponsible for these fires — the
way we’ve been treating our plan-
et,” Kogelsberger said. “The loss
of the cabin was absolutely devas-
tating, but the loss of the amazing
ecosystem that surrounds it is just
beyond compare. You know, you
can replace a house, but you can-
not replace a 2,000 to 3,000-year-
old sequoia tree.”
Sequoia seedlings rise from wildfire ashesBY BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press
NOAH BERGER/AP
Ashtyn Perry, 13, climbs a scorched sequoia tree during an Archangel Ancient Tree Archive expedition toplant sequoia trees Oct. 27 in Sequoia Crest, Calif.
NEW YORK — The Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade will re-
turn to its pre-pandemic form this
year, with its route restored
through Manhattan, high-flying
helium balloons once again pulled
by handlers and crowds wel-
comed back to cheer them on.
This year’s parade — the 95th
annual — will snap back to form
after bowing to pandemic restric-
tions last year. It will feature 15 gi-
ant character balloons, 28 floats,
36 novelty and heritage inflata-
bles, more than 800 clowns, 10
marching bands and nine per-
formance groups and, of course,
Santa Claus.
New balloon giants joining the
line-up on Nov. 25 include Ada
Twist, Scientist and the Pokémon
characters Pikachu and Eevee.
Broadway will be represented by
the casts of “Six,” “Moulin Rouge!
The Musical” and “Wicked.” The
Rockettes will be there, as will the
cast of the upcoming NBC live
production of “Annie.”
“For our 95th celebration, Ma-
cy’s has created a spectacle to re-
member featuring a dazzling ar-
ray of high-flying balloons, ani-
mated floats and incredible per-
formers. We can’t wait to help
New York City and the nation
kick-off the holiday season with
the return of this cherished tradi-
tion,” Will Coss, executive pro-
ducer of the parade, said in a state-
ment.
There will be new floats led by
the cast of “Girls5eva” — Sara
Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsber-
ry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps
— Nelly and Jordan Fisher, while
Jon Batiste will be on an alligator-
themed float celebrating Louisia-
na’s music, food and culture.
Other celebrities on hand in-
clude Carrie Underwood, Jimmie
Allen, Kelly Rowland, Rob Tho-
mas, Kristin Chenoweth, Darren
Criss, Foreigner, Andy Grammer,
Mickey Guyton, Chris Lane, Miss
America Camille Schrier, Mup-
pets from “Sesame Street” and the
three past and current hosts of
“Blue’s Clues” — Steve Burns,
Donovan Patton and Josh Dela
Cruz.
Some of the returning balloons
will be Astronaut Snoopy, ‘The
Boss Baby,” “Diary of a Wimpy
Kid,” Chase from “Paw Patrol,”
the Pillsbury Doughboy, Red Ti-
tan from “Ryan’s World,” Papa
Smurf from ”The Smurfs,” Sonic
the Hedgehog and SpongeBob
SquarePants.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to pre-pandemic shapeAssociated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11
AMERICAN ROUNDUP
Court debates status ofjudge who shared photos
KS TOPEKA — The Kan-
sas Supreme Court is
considering whether a retired
judge should be disciplined for
sending nude photos of himself to
an online site for swingers.
The court heard arguments in
the case of former Russell County
Magistrate Judge Marty Clark,
who retired in May, three days be-
fore the Kansas Commission on
Judicial Conduct recommended
that he be disciplined.
Todd Thompson, who argued
for the commission, said Clark
sent photos to the Club Foreplay
site as well as “salacious” texts to
a woman discussing a possible
sexual encounter in the judge’s
chamber, The Wichita Eagle
reported.
Thompson argued Clark, who is
in his 50s, should be barred from
being a judge again unless he re-
ceives education on the integrity
of the judicial branch.
Clark’s attorney, Chris Joseph,
said punishing Clark for sending
nude photos to a private channel
on his own time would be setting
dangerous precedent. He said
morality should not be a basis for
discipline unless there is a direct
connection to the job.
Woman gets no ERtreatment, but $700 bill
GA ATLANTA — A Geor-
gia woman who left an
emergency room after waiting for
hours without seeing a doctor said
she walked away with her injury
untreated and a $700 charge sim-
ply for showing up.
Taylor Davis told WAGA-TV
she went to the Emory Decatur
Hospital emergency room for a
head injury and decided to leave
after seeing no end in sight to her
seven-hour wait for care.
A couple of weeks later, a sur-
prise arrived in her mailbox: a
$700 bill from the hospital.
“I didn’t get my vitals taken. No-
body called my name. I wasn’t
seen at all,” Davis said.
An email sent to Davis by an
Emory Healthcare patient finan-
cial services employee said: “You
get charged before you are seen.
Not for being seen.”
Emory Healthcare told the TV
station in a statement that it was
“looking into this matter and will
follow up directly with the individ-
ual.”
Coast Guard rescues 2boaters off coast
NC MOREHEAD CITY —
The Coast Guard said
it has rescued two boaters after
their small boat capsized off the
North Carolina coast.
A Coast Guard news release
said the rescue occurred near Ce-
dar Island, which is northeast of
Morehead City. They had re-
ceived information from county
dispatchers that the boaters need-
ed help after their boat capsized
after taking waves over its side.
The Coast Guard used a heli-
copter and boat along with a local
fire department vessel and two ci-
vilian boaters to locate the people
and assist with the rescue.
After the rescue, the two boa-
ters were taken to emergency
medical personnel at the Cedar Is-
land Ferry Terminal.
Police said owner liedabout child in stolen car
NY NEW YORK — A
Queens man who want-
ed to get his stolen car back told
police falsely that there was a 7-
year-old boy with Down syn-
drome in the car, police said.
The car owner made up the sto-
ry about the child so that officers
would work harder to find his red
Ford Mustang, a police spokes-
person said.
The car was stolen from in front
of a house in the Hollis section.
Several news outlets reported
on the missing boy, who supposed-
ly was unable to communicate.
The car was located four hours
later, and a 17-year-old suspected
car thief was arrested, but there
was no sign of a young boy.
County to pay $100K for4 cars damaged by tree
IN NOBLESVILLE — A
central Indiana county’s
commissioners will pay out
$100,000 to the owners of four ve-
hicles after a tree limb fell on the
courthouse square, crushing their
vehicles.
The 80-foot-tall red oak split
during a storm, causing a large
limb to crash atop a row of cars
parked outside the Hamilton
County courthouse in Noblesville,
The Indianapolis Star reported.
A pickup truck was totaled, and
three cars were badly damaged.
No cars were occupied, and no one
was injured when the branch
weighing an estimated several
thousand pounds fell.
Commissioner Christine Alt-
man said that while the county
likely was not legally liable for the
accident, they would pay for re-
pairs.
At least 8 hospitalized forcarbon monoxide exposure
MA BROCKTON — Eight
people were taken to
the hospital in Massachusetts for
carbon monoxide exposures.
The three incidents south of
Boston were all related to operat-
ing generators in homes as parts
of the state continue to deal with
power outages following a recent
nor’easter, NBC Boston reported.
Three adults and two children
from a residence in Brockton
were taken to the hospital with
signs of carbon monoxide poison-
ing, the station said.
In nearby Hanson, firefighters
responded to two carbon monox-
ide incidents at separate residenc-
es, NBC 10 reported. At one of the
homes, firefighters found elevat-
ed levels of carbon monoxide and
took three residents to the hospital
for evaluation.
Woman, 80, shot in faceduring drive-by shooting
MI PONTIAC — An 80-
year-old woman has
been shot in the face during an ap-
parent drive-by shooting in south-
eastern Michigan.
The woman was sitting in the
driver’s seat of her parked car in
Pontiac when she was shot, the
Oakland County sheriff’s office
said.
Deputies rushed her to a hospi-
tal where she was in critical condi-
tion. She was expected to undergo
surgery to remove bullet frag-
ments from between her eyes, her
relatives told the sheriff’s office.
Two men in her car were not
struck.
Investigators were reviewing
home security cameras in the
neighborhood. No arrests have
been made.
State liquor sales soaredin 2020 for record year
MN MINNEAPOLIS —
Sales at municipal li-
quor stores in Minnesota soared in
2020 for a record-breaking year.
Sales at the state’s 213 “munis”
jumped 10% during the first year
of the COVID-19 pandemic, ac-
cording to a report recently re-
leased by State Auditor Julie Bla-
ha. In recent years, a typical sales
increase has been in the range of
1% to 3%.
With many bars and restau-
rants either closed or operating at
reduced capacity during parts of
the year, people did more of their
drinking at home, according to li-
quor store managers and employ-
ees. And the lifestyle shifts
prompted by the pandemic played
a major role.
According to the International
Wines and Spirits Record, Amer-
icans consumed 2% more alcohol
last year than in 2019. It was the
biggest year-over-year increase
since 2002.
DIEUNALIO CHERY/AP
A reveler gets her makeup done before the start of New York City’s 48th annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade on Sunday.
Prepping for the parade
THE CENSUS
7 The number of people charged in a cockfighting and gamblingoperation. Federal prosecutors said seven Verbena, Ala., resi-
dents face animal cruelty and conspiracy charges in connection with a large-scale cockfighting and fighting bird breeding operation. Prosecutors said thedefendants over the last three years maintained a cockfighting arena or “pit”with stadium seating for approximately 150 people and several rings to hostcockfights. If convicted of conspiracy, Animal Welfare Act violations, or oper-ating an illegal gambling business, the defendants each face a maximum pen-alty of five years in prison.
From The Associated Press
PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish
hospital said Tuesday that doctors
and midwives did everything they
could to save the lives of a preg-
nant woman and her fetus in a
case that has put the spotlight on a
new restriction on Poland’s abor-
tion law.
The 30-year-old woman died of
septic shock in her 22nd week of
pregnancy. Doctors did not per-
form an abortion, even though her
fetus was lacking amniotic fluid,
according to a lawyer for the fam-
ily.
Reproductive rights activists
said she is the first person to die as
a result of a recent restriction of
Poland’s abortion law.
The woman, identified only as
Izabela, died in September but her
case was only made public Friday,
triggering anger among some
Poles and protests in Warsaw,
Krakow and elsewhere on Mon-
day evening. People lit candles for
her in an evening vigil.
Before the new restriction,
women in Poland could have abor-
tions only in three cases: if the
pregnancy results from a crime
like rape, if the woman’s life is at
risk or in the case of severe fetal
deformities. But the Constitution-
al Tribunal, under the influence of
Poland’s conservative ruling par-
ty, ruled last year that abortions
for congenital defects were not
constitutional.
Women’s rights activists said
doctors in Poland now wait for a
fetus with no chance of survival to
die in the womb rather than per-
form an abortion.
The hospital where the woman
died issued a statement Tuesday
saying they were “joined in pain”
with her loved ones and others
mourning her, and saying its staff
had done everything to save her
and the fetus. The family lawyer
said she left behind a husband and
a daughter.
“The only factor guiding the
medical procedure was concern
for the health and life of the pa-
tient and the fetus. Doctors and
midwives did everything in their
power, they fought a difficult bat-
tle for the patient and her child,”
said the statement from the Coun-
ty Hospital in Pszczyna in south-
ern Poland.
The hospital added that prose-
cutors are investigating the case
but said “all medical decisions
were made taking into account the
legal provisions and standards of
conduct in force in Poland.”
Pregnant woman’s death puts spotlight on Polish abortion lawAssociated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — The find-
ings of the only human rights in-
vestigation allowed in Ethiopia’s
blockaded Tigray region will be
released Wednesday, a year after
war began there. But people with
knowledge of the probe said it has
been limited by authorities who
recently expelled a U.N. staffer
helping to lead it.
And yet, with groups such as
Human Rights Watch and Amnes-
ty International barred from Ti-
gray, along with foreign media,
the report may be the world’s only
official source of information on
atrocities in the war, which began
in November 2020 after a political
falling-out between the Tigray
forces that long dominated the na-
tional government and Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed’s current
government. The conflict has
been marked by gang rapes, mass
expulsions, deliberate starvation
and thousands of deaths.
The joint investigation by the
U.N. human rights office and the
government-created Ethiopian
Human Rights Commission, or
EHRC, is a rare collaboration that
immediately raised concerns
among ethnic Tigrayans, human
rights groups and other observers
about impartiality and govern-
ment influence.
In response to questions from
The Associated Press, the U.N. hu-
man rights office in Geneva said it
wouldn’t have been able to enter
Tigray without the partnership
with the rights commission. Al-
though past joint investigations
occurred in Afghanistan and
Uganda, the United Nations said,
“the current one is unique in
terms of magnitude and context.”
But Ethiopia’s government has
given no basis for expelling U.N.
human rights officer Sonny
Onyegbula last month, the U.N.
added, and without an explanation
“we cannot accept the allegation
that our staff member ... was ‘med-
dling in the internal affairs’ of Eth-
iopia.”
Because of those circumstanc-
es, and the fact that the U.N. left
the investigation to its less experi-
enced regional office in Ethiopia,
the new report is “automatically
suspect,” said David Crane, foun-
der of the Global Accountability
Network and founding chief pros-
ecutor for the Special Court for
Sierra Leone, an international tri-
bunal.
“What you need when you go in-
to an atrocity zone is a clean slate
so outside investigators can look
into it neutrally, dispassionately,”
Crane said. “You want to do these
things where you don’t build
doubt, distrust from the begin-
ning,” including among people in-
terviewed.
The investigation might be the
international community’s only
chance to collect facts on the
ground, he said, but because of its
setup, it may disappear “in the
sands of time.”
AP
People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath at the scene of an airstrike inMekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia last month.
Ethiopia tried to limit rare UNreport on Tigray war abuses
BY CARA ANNA
Associated Press
GLASGOW, Scotland — More
than 100 countries pledged Tues-
day to end deforestation in the
coming decade — a promise that
experts say would be critical to
limiting climate change but one
that has been made and broken
before.
Britain hailed the commitment
as the first big achievement of
the U.N. climate conference
known as COP26 taking place
this month in the Scottish city of
Glasgow. But campaigners said
they need to see the details to un-
derstand its full impact.
The U.K. government said it
has received commitments from
leaders representing more than
85% of the world’s forests to halt
and reverse deforestation by
2030. Among them are several
countries with massive forests,
including Brazil, China, Colom-
bia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia
and the United States.
More than $19 billion in public
and private funds have been
pledged toward the plan.
British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson said that “with today’s
unprecedented pledges, we will
have a chance to end humanity’s
long history as nature’s conquer-
or, and instead become its custo-
dian.”
Forests are important ecosys-
tems and provide a critical way
of absorbing carbon dioxide —
the main greenhouse gas — from
the atmosphere. Trees are one of
the world’s major so-called car-
bon sinks, or places where car-
bon is stored.
But the value of wood as a com-
modity and the growing demand
for agricultural and pastoral
land are leading to widespread
and often illegal felling of for-
ests, particularly in developing
countries.
“We are delighted to see Indig-
enous Peoples mentioned in the
forest deal announced today,”
said Joseph Itongwa Mukumo,
an Indigenous Walikale and ac-
tivist from Congo.
He called for governments and
businesses to recognize the ef-
fective role Indigenous commu-
nities play in preventing defores-
tation.
Experts cautioned that similar
agreements in the past have
failed to be effective.
Alison Hoare, a senior re-
search fellow at political think
tank Chatham House, said world
leaders promised in 2014 to end
deforestation by 2030, “but since
then deforestation has accelerat-
ed across many countries.”
Still, Luciana Tellez Chavez,
an environmental researcher at
Human Right Watch, said the
agreement contains “quite a lot
of really positive elements.”
The European Union, Britain
and the U.S. are making progress
on restricting imports of goods
linked to deforestation and hu-
man rights abuses “and it’s really
interesting to see China and Bra-
zil signing up to a statement that
suggests that’s a goal,” she said.
But she noted that Brazil’s
public statements don’t yet line
up with its domestic policies and
warned that the deal could be
used by some countries to
“greenwash” their image.
The Brazilian government has
been eager to project itself as a
responsible environmental stew-
ard in the wake of surging defor-
estation and fires in the Amazon
rainforest and Pantanal wet-
lands that sparked global out-
rage and threats of divestment in
recent years. But critics cau-
tioned that its promises should
be viewed with skepticism, and
the country’s president, Jair Bol-
sonaro, is an outspoken propo-
nent of developing the Amazon.
Over 100 countries
vow deforestation
end at COP26 talksAssociated Press
WORLD
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13
WORLD
LAGOS, Nigeria — A 21-story
apartment building under con-
struction collapsed in an up-
scale area of Nigeria’s largest
city, killing at least three people
and leaving dozens more mis-
sing, officials and witnesses said
on Monday.
Lagos Police Commissioner
Hakeem Odumosu confirmed
the deaths, but added that three
survivors had been pulled from
the rubble in Ikoyi by Monday
evening. Officials arriving at the
scene were confronted by
crowds of people venting their
anger that rescue efforts started
several hours after the collapse.
Olayemi Bello told The Asso-
ciated Press that five of his
friends were trapped in the
building and he feared the
worst.
“When they work finish, they
will come outside and they will
play with us and talk about the
work,” he said. “Now, nobody.
All of them are dead.”
Construction worker Eric Tet-
teh said that he and his brother
had managed to escape. But he
estimated that more than 100
people were inside the building
at the time it crumbled into a
pile of debris.
Workers said the high rise
apartment building had been
under construction for about
two years, and it was not imme-
diately known what had caused
the collapse.
However, such incidents are
relatively common in Lagos be-
cause enforcement of building
code regulations is weak. Other
observers blame shoddy work
by private developers eager to
meet demand for housing in the
megacity.
High risein Nigeriacollapses
Associated Press
SUNDAY ALAMBA/AP
Rescue workers are seen at the site of a collapsed 21storyapartment building under construction in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand
— As he made history by becom-
ing the first person to fly across
New Zealand’s Cook Strait in an
electric plane, Gary Freedman
thought it only fitting that the
first thing he saw when ap-
proaching the Wellington coast-
line was the rotating blade of a
wind turbine producing renew-
able energy.
Freedman’s 40-minute solo
flight in the small two-seater
came 101 years after the first per-
son flew a conventional aircraft
over the body of water that sep-
arates the South Pacific nation’s
two main islands.
Monday’s flight was aimed at
drawing attention to the possibil-
ities of greener flying and timed
to coincide with the opening of a
pivotal U.N. climate summit in
Glasgow, Scotland.
Wellington International Air-
port officials believe it may be the
longest distance flown in an elec-
tric plane across any body of wa-
ter.
“It’s a very exciting day for the
airport. A world-record-setting
day,” said spokesperson Jenna
Raeburn.
Freedman said the day began
badly with pouring rain at his de-
parture point near the town of
Blenheim. After delaying the
flight for 15 minutes, the weather
cleared just enough for takeoff
and soon improved to sunny con-
ditions over the ocean.
Freedman said he was ecstatic
when he landed, and the technol-
ogy worked better than he’d
hoped.
“We still had 40% left in the
battery,” he said. “We could have
almost flown back again.”
Freedman, 49, who founded the
company ElectricAir, said he’s
long been passionate about the
environment and the idea came
as he thought about the incongru-
ity of driving an electric car and
flying a gas-powered plane.
He took a trip to Slovenia to
buy a Pipistrel Alpha Electro
plane, and then jumped through
various hoops with New Zealand
aviation regulators to get the
plane cleared.
Electric plane crosses straitin New Zealand for first time
Associated Press
PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
FACES
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ en-
tertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming
services and music platforms this week.
Movies
The Western gets a stylish and kinetic update in
Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall.” The film, co-
produced by Jay-Z and featuring a starry cast, is based on
real Black characters from the Old West who have general-
ly been overlooked in the genre. Jonathan Majors stars as
Nat Love, a cowboy whose gun-slinging crew faces off with
the outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) who killed Love’s par-
ents years ago. The cast also includes Regina King, LaKeith
Stanfield, Delroy Lindo, Zazie Beetz and Danielle Deadwyl-
er. In her review, the AP’s Jocelyn Noveck called “The Har-
der They Fall” a stylish and bold Western “telling a story
sorely underrepresented in cinema.” It lands Wednesday
on Netflix.
Benedict Cumberbatch has drawn widespread ac-
claim for his leading performance in Jane Campion’s up-
coming gothic Western “The Power of the Dog,” but he
gives a very different and extremely charming perform-
ance, also, in “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.” The film,
which debuts Friday on Amazon Prime Video, is a poignant
and frisky biopic of the illustrator of anthropomorphized
cats in Victorian England. Written and directed by Will
Sharpe (creator of the British series “Flowers”), “The Elec-
trical Life of Louis Wain” is a portrait of an eccentric mind
always at work, and often misunderstood. With Claire Foy.
More than two decades after Tom Hanks acted pri-
marily opposite a volleyball in “Cast Away,” he has slightly
more company in “Finch.” In Miguel Sapochnik’s film, a
man, a dog and a robot take a road trip across a post-apoc-
alyptic America. Hanks plays the last man alive on Earth,
who has created an android (voiced by Caleb Landry) for
companionship. The film, debuting
Friday, is the second Hanks movie to
land at Apple TV+ during the pan-
demic, following last year’s WWII
maritime thriller “Greyhound.”
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
Music
Swedish supergroup ABBA
will be hoping to connect with a new
generation when they release their
new album “Voyage” on Friday, 39
years after their last new music.
“They say it’s foolhardy to wait more
than 40 years between albums,” the
group joked in a statement in Sep-
tember. The foursome behind such
hits as “Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance On Me” has
hinted at what they sound like in 2021 with two new songs,
the wistful ballad “I Still Have Faith In You” and the disco-
ish “Don’t Shut Me Down.”
What does the book “Girl, Interrupted” sound like as a
musical? Fans of Aimee Mann can find out when her album
“Queens of the Summer Hotel” comes out Friday, via
Mann’s SuperEgo Records. The 15 tracks were created for
a still-to-happen stage adaptation of Susannah Kaysen’s
memoir about her psychiatric hospitalization in the late
1960s. The songs have Mann’s signature sardonic humor,
wry lyrics, moody melodies and emotional resonance. One
of the album’s most powerful songs is “Suicide Is Murder,”
the narrator's monologue about her own suicide attempt.
Get ready for some vintage Billy Joel on Friday. The
Piano Man is re-releasing his first six albums — from 1971’s
“Cold Spring Harbor” to 1978’s “52nd Street” — as part of
the nine-LP box set “The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1” as well as
on streaming platforms. Only box set owners will get “Live
at the Great American Music Hall — 1975,” a previously
unreleased concert recording.
— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
Television
Apple TV+, home of the good-hearted “Ted Lasso,” is
introducing a preschool sibling. “Hello, Jack! The Kind-
ness Show” features Jack McBrayer — network page Ken-
neth on “30 Rock” — and was co-created by McBrayer and
Angela Santomero (“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”). The
series includes tales about the cascading effect of helpful
acts and aims to explain how to “solve problems with
heart.” Cast members and guests include Markita Prescott,
Albert Kong and Paul Scheer, with original songs from the
band OK Go. It debuts Friday.
Adam Dalgliesh, the British police detective-poet fea-
tured in more than a dozen mysteries by novelist P.D.
James, is back on the small screen. This time, the cerebral
crimefighter with an appreciation for fine cars is played by
Bertie Carvel in “Dalgliesh,” a trio of two-part mysteries
debuting Monday, on the Acorn TV streaming service.
“Shroud for a Nightingale,” “The Black Tower” and “A
Taste for Death” are the adapted books. In previous TV in-
carnations, Dalgliesh was played by Roy Marsden and
Martin Shaw (“Inspector George Gently”).
Gamers will be clearing the decks Saturday. Riot
Games’ “Arcane,” a TV adaptation of the eponymous video
game drawn from the “League of Legends” universe, de-
buts on Netflix. It’s the chaser after Riot Games’ annual
League of Legends World Championship concludes in Ice-
land. The voice cast for “Arcane” includes Hailee Steinfeld
and Ella Purnell as sisters Vi and Jinx, and Kevin Alejandro
as Jayce. The series will be released in a trio of three-epi-
sode acts, with the first focused on the siblings’ origins. Sub-
sequent episodes will be out Nov. 13 and Nov. 20.
— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber
Associated Press
“Finch,” starringTom Hanks,premieres Fridayon Apple TV+.
New this week: ‘Finch,’ ABBA and ‘The Harder They Fall’
Before the pandemic, Cody Rigsby
was rarely recognized on New
York’s Fire Island. It was a sanc-
tuary, a place where “nobody
knew my quote-unquote celebrity,” says
the Peloton instructor, who has been inspir-
ing users to climb imaginary hills since
2014.
“A lot of my demographic are women in
the 30-to-50 age range that live in suburbia
or middle America,” he says, noting that
he’d sometimes get noticed while visiting
his mom in North Carolina. “There are not a
lot of those on a very gay island.”
Things changed when COVID-19 struck.
As people looked for ways to stay fit at
home, Peloton grew exponentially — from
1.6 million users in early 2020 to 5.9 million
in June 2021. So did Rigsby’s fame: Some-
thing about his exuberant teaching style
resonated with people during a period of
isolation and uncertainty.
This new reality dawned on Rigsby when
he returned to Fire Island this summer, af-
ter a year spent doing little besides going to
the empty Peloton studio in Manhattan. In-
stead of the blissful anonymity he once en-
joyed, people would come up to him at
brunch to ask for a picture. Sometimes they
were celebrities.
“I have to put a little bit more of a guard
up now,” he says via video conference from
Los Angeles, where he’s capping off a life-
changing year with a stint on “Dancing with
the Stars.” “Because if I’m out with friends
and I’m having a good time, which probably
includes drinking” — he rolls his eyes for
comic effect — “I don’t
want to be too messy.”
This self-deprecating
candor is part of what has
made Rigsby, 34, an un-
usually approachable fit-
ness guru — a virtual con-
fidant who helps distract
from the pain of a grueling
workout by trash-talking Justin Timber-
lake and sharing cute stories about his boy-
friend.
According to social media metrics, he is
Peloton’s most popular teacher, with nearly
a million Instagram followers. His 30-min-
ute Britney Spears class has been taken
650,000 times and counting — more than
any other of the same length.
Not bad for a job Rigsby took to earn a few
hundred bucks while trying to make it as a
professional dancer.
Like members of the boy bands that Rigs-
by so often talks about, each Peloton in-
structor has a distinct personality type and
teaching style: There’s the Spiritual One,
the Quiet One, the Technical One. Rigsby is
the Fun One, effortlessly playing the role of
“everybody’s gay best friend,” as colleague
Emma Lovewell puts it.
Tall and strapping, Rigsby has Mickey
Mouse ears tattooed on his arm. While other
instructors focus on form or motivational
pep talks, Rigsby peppers his class with kit-
schy catchphrases, stray pop culture obser-
vations and rants about his personal pet
peeves. He’s been known to sound off on ev-
erything from Olive Garden breadsticks to
the horrors of the Chuck E. Cheese ball pit.
In his popular themed class XOXO Cody,
Rigsby spouts sex and love advice to a bois-
terous pop playlist.
Rigsby’s lighthearted approach has en-
deared him to users, who upload his humor-
ous diatribes to TikTok and YouTube. On
Etsy, you can buy Cody Rigsby prayer can-
dles and mugs. There’s even a fan club.
Still, when Rigsby was announced as a
“DWTS” cast member in September, some
scoffed at the idea of a spin instructor as a
bona-fide “star.”
“Celebrity isn’t the same celebrity it was
when we started this show. It is a much big-
ger world than just people who are on televi-
sion,” says co-executive producer Deena
Katz, who has increasingly cast influencers
and other personalities who don’t fall into
traditional categories of celebrity.
Part of Rigsby’s appeal is his story of tri-
umph over adversity. His father died of a
drug overdose when he was a few months
old. He was raised by a single mom — first
in Burbank, Calif., then in Greensboro, N.C.
Money was tight, and there were periods of
homelessness.
Lovewell, who bonded with Rigsby when
they were hired to dance at a lavish Vene-
tian-themed wedding in Washington, D.C.,
was immediately struck by his sense of hu-
mor. “He says the things you’re thinking but
would never say out loud, but it’s not mean,”
she says. “It’s this delicate balance.”
Rigsby was working at the Box, a night-
club on the Lower East Side, when he heard
about a new fitness company looking for
performers interested in teaching. He sent
in a headshot to Peloton, figuring it would
be a good side hustle, landing the job after a
10-minute interview. Within a year, he was
teaching Peloton full time.
“They took a chance on me, and it paid off.
And I took a chance on them, and it redirect-
ed my life in a big way. It feels very divine,
in a way.”
“DWTS,” where he’s competed against
Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm, has been
the realization of a childhood dream — liter-
ally. As a kid, he used to have a recurring
dream in which he was friends with the
Spice Girls. “I think it stems from watching
‘Spice World’ so many times,” he says.
Still, the “DWTS” experience has been
challenging. For the first few weeks, he was
flying to L.A. to tape the show, then return-
ing to New York to teach Peloton. Worn
down, Rigsby got a breakthrough case of
COVID-19 and was forced to compete vir-
tually from his apartment, dancing with
partner Cheryl Burke via split screen — to
Spears, no less. “I’m still gutted,” he says.
The judges have not been particularly
kind to Rigsby, but his scores are improv-
ing. An avid fan of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,”
Rigsby is savvy enough about reality TV to
take it in stride. “I have to remind myself
not to be a victim of a television storyline,”
he says, “and to have fun, because that’s
what this is all about. To quote myself: ‘It’s
not that deep, boo.’”
However it ends, “DTWS” has opened up
opportunities beyond the bike.
Rigsby isn’t the type to have a five-year
plan, but he’d love to do something else on
TV, maybe as a judge or host. “If RuPaul is
listening, I’m completely open to doing ‘Ce-
lebrity Drag Race,’” he says. “I just want
whatever I do to be rooted in bringing joy
and good energy into the world.”
Rigsby goes from Peloton to pandemic starBY MEREDITH BLAKE
Los Angeles Times
Rigsby
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15
ACROSS
1 Happy hour
venue
4 Score units
(Abbr.)
7 Hockey’s Gordie
8 Seer’s deck
10 Ersatz chocolate
11 Actress Clarke
13 1979 spy novel
by John le Carré
16 Online chats,
briefly
17 Fizzy drinks
18 Boy king
19 Pac-12 school
20 Stand-up comic
Mabley
21 Israel’s Ehud
23 Childhood
malady
25 Lass
26 Mature
27 USN bigwig
28 Grown-up
30 Shock partner
33 Selfless-to-a-
fault type
36 Clef variety
37 Ruminates
38 Wozniak or Jobs
39 Sch. for tots
40 Observe
41 Feedbag bit
DOWN
1 Tennis star
Becker
2 MP’s quarry
3 Hitchcock film
4 Argentine
grass-land
5 Samples
6 Alone
7 Soccer star Mia
8 Inventor Nikola
9 Excellent
10 Hit CBS series
12 Reunion crowd
14 Egg part
15 UFO engineers
19 Web address
20 French Mrs.
21 Fancy
bathroom
fixture
22 Knight suits
23 Grinder
24 Musically lively
25 Hiatus
26 Indian coin
28 “Tiny Alice”
playwright
29 Look (into)
30 Plus
31 Seven days
32 Hosp. sections
34 Favorites
35 Mystique
Answer to Previous Puzzle
Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra
zz
Dilbert
Pearls B
efo
re S
win
eN
on S
equitur
Candorv
ille
Beetle B
ailey
Biz
arr
oCarp
e D
iem
PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher
Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander
John Rodriguez, Europe chief of staff
Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander
Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff
EDITORIAL
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stripes.com
OPINION
After overthrowing the Taliban gov-
ernment in Afghanistan in 2001,
U.S. and NATO forces stayed in the
country primarily to preclude the
Taliban from regaining power and again pro-
viding sanctuary for terrorists threatening
worldwide attacks. U.S. presidents voiced oth-
er reasons to remain, some important, some
not. Mistakes were made and money wasted.
The undeniable human cost was almost en-
tirely caused by the terrorists’ continued bar-
barity.
For 20 years, no terrorist attacks against the
U.S. emanated from Afghanistan. Tragically,
this central reality became obscured by sim-
plistic political sloganeering. Presidents ei-
ther didn’t grasp or were unwilling to advocate
a limited U.S. military presence to buttress
Kabul’s elected government and keep the Ta-
liban at bay. Those advocating withdrawal
simply assumed the terrorist threat was im-
material, or preventable through unproven
“over the horizon” strategies.
Before Congress last week, the Biden ad-
ministration conceded that one rhetorical Ma-
ginot Line supporting withdrawal had fallen.
Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for
policy, testified that both al-Qaida and the Is-
lamic State faction in Afghanistan known as
Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, have the
“intent” to conduct terrorist attacks against
the West. “We could see ISIS-K generate that
capability in somewhere between six or 12
months. I think the current assessments by the
intelligence community is that al-Qaida would
take a year or two to reconstitute that capabil-
ity.” So much for the Taliban’s credibility, hav-
ing promised to prevent precisely this.
Did the speed of the threat’s rise stem from
the terrorists’ resilience or erroneous U.S. es-
timates of how much damage they had in-
curred? The question deserves close scrutiny.
Whatever the explanation, the result is the
same: The United States may not face another
9/11-scale attack immediately, but the terror-
ist threat has not moderated, and certainly not
disappeared.
The Biden administration deserves credit
for surprising candor, although Kahl’s testi-
mony echoed the warnings that President Joe
Biden received before proceeding to with-
draw, as President Donald Trump and Presi-
dent Barack Obama were similarly warned.
Now, however, these troubling assessments
are publicly buttressed by Biden’s own politi-
cal appointee. Biden’s long-standing over-the-
horizon theory that we can mount successful
counterterrorism operations from far distant
platforms, with essentially no in-country pres-
ence, will now be tested. Unfortunately, this
conjecture is likely to be merely a second rhet-
orical Maginot Line.
Without even a bare-bones U.S. counterter-
rorism platform in Afghanistan, intelligence
on threatening activities will be enormously
difficult to come by. Much of our superb tech-
nical capability for surveillance will be irrele-
vant. Al-Qaida and ISIS-K will not be excavat-
ing deep silos to house nuclear-capable inter-
continental ballistic missiles, like China, visi-
ble from space. Nor is eavesdropping possible
when terrorists transmit truly sensitive infor-
mation via the ancient but durable channel of
couriers. Working with human agents, the
best method against tightly knit organizations,
requires in-person handling, not videoconfer-
ences from Langley.
Obviously, inadequate intelligence makes
long-distance strikes far more problematic,
especially in remote, mountainous Afghan
terrain. Pakistani help is a mixed blessing, as it
has been for two decades, given the country’s
Janus-like relationship with the Taliban and
other terrorists. Nor is Moscow cooperating.
Speaking virtually to a recent Tehran confer-
ence, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said, “We call on Afghanistan’s neighboring
countries not to allow a military presence of
U.S. and NATO forces that plan to move there
after leaving Afghanistan’s territory.”
As we moved out, ostensibly to focus more
intensely on China, China is moving in: by of-
fering at Tehran to host next year’s ministerial
meeting of Kabul’s neighbors, and by expand-
ing investments and fostering mutually bene-
ficial political understandings with the Tali-
ban.
Nor should anyone believe that the current
animosities between ISIS-K and the Taliban
(joined by al-Qaida, now deeply intertwined
with the Taliban), are permanent. ISIS
emerged from al-Qaida, and the taxonomy of
Islamist terrorists is not so rigid that alliances
of convenience or even firm partnerships
won’t emerge against the common enemy,
namely the United States. Accordingly, a no-
tion now circulating among some in the U.S.
national security community supporting the
Taliban against ISIS-K should be sharply re-
jected. The terrorists understand their own
capacity for shifting affiliations, and so should
we. They are all our enemies.
Today, post-withdrawal, Americans are un-
mistakably more vulnerable to terrorism’s
threat. Adversaries and allies alike regard the
abandonment of Afghanistan as a surrender,
auguring how muted a U.S. response might be
to crises far from Kabul. We can reverse this
slide, but doing so requires recognizing that
leaving Afghanistan was a strategic blunder.
Biden’s Afghan blunder is endangering US securityBY JOHN R. BOLTON
Special to The Washington Post
John R. Bolton served as national security adviser underPresident Donald Trump and is the author of “The Room WhereIt Happened: A White House Memoir.”
The United States has a long and
proud tradition of taking care of
those who serve in our armed
forces. The Department of Veter-
ans Affairs traces its mission back hundreds of
years, beginning with the Continental Con-
gress providing pensions to disabled soldiers.
Since its formal creation in 1930, the VA, spe-
cifically the Veterans Health Administration,
has grown into one of the largest health care
organizations in the country, tasked with pro-
viding the highest quality of care to millions of
our nation’s veterans with the latest health
care technology available.
Since my retirement, I have been active in
advocating for and ensuring continuing qual-
ity care to all members of our military family:
active-duty personnel, dependents and veter-
ans. Having spent many years in this world, a
frustrating challenge that I continue to see is
the “acceptance” of certain inferior health
outcomes associated with preventable medi-
cal and diagnostic error. As a physician and
longtime military leader, I find this unaccept-
able. I believe it’s our duty to do all in our pow-
er to advance the “standard of care” with new
technologies, techniques and procedures. We
should always, always, strive to improve the
standard of care, not simply accept it.
Delivering the best patient care possible is
only achievable through proper diagnosis. In
the U.S., over 70% of all patient treatment deci-
sions are based on laboratory test results, but
in certain instances, these results can be inac-
curate and/or misleading. A prime example is
sepsis, a life-threatening immune reaction
triggered by a severe bloodstream infection.
While patients with a mild case of sepsis typ-
ically recover, in severe cases, including sep-
tic shock, an estimated 40% of patients die. Ac-
cording to the CDC, sepsis claims the life of an
estimated 270,000 Americans each year. As a
comparison, COVID-19 has a 1.8% mortality
rate — over twentyfold lower than sepsis.
The challenge with diagnosing sepsis is that
standard of care blood test is frequently
wrong. Each year, more than 20 million Amer-
icans demonstrate symptoms of sepsis and are
tested in U.S. hospitals. Of those tests that re-
turn for a positive result for bloodstream in-
fection including sepsis, an average of 40% of
positive results are false positive. These false
positive results drive the improper use of pow-
erful antibiotics, which contributes directly to
antimicrobial resistance, avoidable hospital
admissions and length of patient stay Within
the VHA, it’s estimated that nearly 30,000 pa-
tients are affected by false-positive blood cul-
tures annually, with more than $125 million
unnecessarily spent by the VHA each year on
inappropriate and avoidable treatment asso-
ciated with false positive sepsis test results.
Based on advances in technology and new
clinically proven performance thresholds, it is
time to reset the standard for sepsis testing ac-
curacy and blood culture contamination rates.
Today’s standard of “acceptable false positive
results” of 3% or below does not represent the
best practice performance level we must hold
ourselves accountable to achieving. The new
target performance threshold we must imple-
ment is less than 1% false positive results for
sepsis testing across the entire VHA system.
We know this performance level is possible
because the VHA has effectively implement-
ed this new standard of care in over a dozen
medical centers across the country. In 2018 for
example, the Houston VA Medical Center re-
ported an astounding 83% reduction in blood
culture contamination and false positive re-
sults with the use of new and readily available
medical device technology. The VA North
Texas Health System in Dallas achieved simi-
lar results with a 68% reported reduction in
false positive sepsis tests.
Last month a congressional subcommittee
responsible for funding the VHA directed the
VA to “prioritize the development of a specific
quality measure for blood contamination
based on the recommendation of less than 1%
blood culture contamination rate within 6
months of enactment.” Now we all need to
work together to ensure each and every VA
medical center executes on this directive. Ev-
ery U.S. veteran deserves access to the best
technologies to support their health, safety
and well-being. In the case of accurate sepsis
testing, the outcome benefits everyone.
Use best test to correctly diagnose sepsis in veteransBY DR. BILL MCDANIEL
Special to Stars and Stripes
Bill McDaniel, a physician, is a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral.He sits on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board ofMagnolia Medical Technologies, which manufactures a devicethat is used — in VA centers and elsewhere — when blood isdrawn to reduce the instances of false positive.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17
PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
SCOREBOARD/SPORTS BRIEFS
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
FCS coaches poll
Record Pts Pvs
1. Sam Houston (27) 7-0 675 1
2. North Dakota State 8-0 644 2
3. James Madison 7-1 621 5
4. Montana State 7-1 579 6
5. E. Washington 7-1 566 7
6. SE Louisiana 7-1 537 8
7. UC Davis 7-1 479 9
8. Kennesaw State 7-1 464 10
9. Southern Illinois 6-2 420 3
10. Montana 6-2 413 11
11. UT Martin 7-1 384 12
12. South Dakota State 6-2 369 13
13. Villanova 6-2 352 4
14. E. Tennessee State 7-1 325 14
15. Northern Iowa 5-3 303 17
16. Princeton 7-0 257 15
17. Jackson State 7-1 221 16
18. VMI 6-2 213 18
19. Eastern Kentucky 6-2 193 19
20. Missouri State 5-3 184 20
21. South Dakota 5-3 108 22
22. Sacramento State 6-2 89 T23
23. William & Mary 6-2 83 —
24. Weber State 4-4 80 T23
25. Chattanooga 5-3 44 —
Dropped out: Harvard (21), Rhode Island(25)
Others receiving votes: Harvard, 27;Monmouth (N.J.), 21; Mercer, 16; Dart-mouth, 14; Prairie View A&M, 14; CentralArkansas, 13; Florida A&M, 13; Stephen F.Austin, 12; Holy Cross, 11; Delaware, 10;UIW, 8; Maine, 6; Nicholls, 5; Davidson, 2.
AP Top 25 scheduleThursday
No. 24 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. GeorgiaSt.
SaturdayNo. 1 Georgia vs. Missouri No. 2 Cincinnati vs. TulsaNo. 3 Alabama vs. LSUNo. 5 Michigan St. at Purdue No. 6 Ohio St. at Nebraska No. 7 Oregon at WashingtonNo. 8 Notre Dame vs. NavyNo. 9 Michigan vs. IndianaNo. 10 Wake Forest at North Carolina No. 11 Oklahoma St. at West VirginiaNo. 12 Auburn at No. 13 Texas A&MNo. 14 Baylor at TCUNo. 15 Mississippi vs. Liberty No. 16 UTSA at UTEPNo. 17 BYU vs. Idaho St.No. 18 Kentucky vs. TennesseeNo. 19 Iowa at NorthwesternNo. 20 Houston at South FloridaNo. 21 Coastal Carolina at Georgia
SouthernNo. 22 Penn St. at MarylandNo. 23 SMU at Memphis No. 25 Fresno St. vs. Boise St.
PRO SOCCER
MLS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
New England 22 4 7 73 65 40
Philadelphia 14 8 11 53 47 34
Nashville 12 4 17 53 54 32
NYCFC 14 11 8 50 55 35
Orlando City 12 9 12 48 48 48
Atlanta 12 9 11 47 43 36
New York 13 12 7 46 38 32
D.C. United 13 15 5 44 53 53
Columbus 12 13 8 44 44 45
CF Montréal 11 11 10 43 44 42
Inter Miami CF 11 17 5 38 35 53
Chicago 9 17 7 34 36 52
Toronto FC 6 17 10 28 38 63
Cincinnati 4 21 8 20 36 72
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
Seattle 17 8 8 59 52 32
Sporting KC 17 8 7 58 57 36
Colorado 16 7 10 58 46 33
Portland 15 13 4 49 50 51
Minnesota 13 11 9 48 39 41
LA Galaxy 13 12 8 47 47 51
Vancouver 12 9 11 47 43 43
Real Salt Lake 13 13 6 45 53 51
LAFC 12 12 8 44 50 45
San Jose 10 13 10 40 45 53
FC Dallas 7 15 11 32 46 55
Houston 6 15 12 30 36 52
Austin FC 8 20 4 28 32 52
Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.
Saturday, Oct. 30
New York City FC 3, Miami 1 San Jose 4, Real Salt Lake 3 New York 1, CF Montréal 0 Toronto FC 1, Atlanta 1, tie Columbus 3, D.C. United 1 FC Dallas 2, Austin FC 1
Sunday, Oct. 31
Minnesota 2, Sporting Kansas City 1 Colorado 1, Houston 0 Nashville 1, Orlando City 1, tie Philadelphia 2, Cincinnati 0
Monday’s game
LA Galaxy 1, Seattle 1, tie
Tuesday’s game
Vancouver at Los Angeles FC
Wednesday’s games
Houston at CF Montréal Atlanta at New York Sporting Kansas City at Austin FC Portland at Real Salt Lake
Sunday’s games
Atlanta at Cincinnati Chicago at Columbus D.C. United at Toronto FC Miami at New England New York at Nashville Orlando City at CF Montréal Philadelphia at New York City FC Austin FC at Portland FC Dallas at San Jose Los Angeles FC at Colorado Minnesota at LA Galaxy Real Salt Lake at Sporting Kansas City Seattle at Vancouver
NWSL
W L T Pts GF GA
x-Portland 13 6 5 44 33 17
x-OL Reign 13 8 3 42 37 24
x-Washington 11 7 6 39 29 26
x-Chicago 11 8 5 38 28 28
x-Gotham FC 8 5 11 35 29 21
x-N. Carolina 9 9 6 33 28 23
Houston 9 10 5 32 31 31
Orlando 7 10 7 28 27 32
Louisville 5 12 7 22 21 40
Kansas City 3 14 7 16 15 36
Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.
Friday, Oct. 29
Chicago 1, Orlando 0
Saturday, Oct. 30
OL Reign 3, Kansas City 0 North Carolina 0, Portland 0, tie
Sunday, Oct. 31
Washington 1, Houston 0 Louisville 1, Gotham FC 1, tie
Sunday’s games
Gotham FC at ChicagoNorth Carolina at Washington
TENNIS
Paris MastersMonday
At Palais Omnisports de Paris-BercyParis
Purse: Euro 2,603,700Surface: Hardcourt indoor
Men’s SinglesRound of 64
Dusan Lajovic, Serbia, def. MackenzieMcDonald, United States, 6-3, 6-4.
Ilya Ivashka, Belarus, def. Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, def. FabioFognini, Italy, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5).
Sebastian Korda, United States, def. As-lan Karatsev (13), Russia, 6-2, 6-7 (9), 7-6(5).
Cameron Norrie (10), Britain, def. Feder-ico Delbonis, Argentina, 6-2, 6-1.
Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan, def. Da-niel Evans, Britain, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Adrian Mannarino, France, def. NikolozBasilashvili, Georgia, 6-2, 6-4.
Hugo Gaston, France, def. Arthur Rin-derknech, France, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Dominik Koepfer, Germany, def. AndyMurray, Britain, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9).
Lorenzo Musetti, Italy, def. Laslo Djere,Serbia, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Pablo Carreno Busta (12), Spain, def. Be-noit Paire, France, 6-3, 6-4.
Men’s DoublesRound of 32
Fabrice Martin, France, and AndreasMies, Germany, def. Jean-Julien Rojer andWesley Koolhof, Netherlands, 6-3, 7-5.
Gonzalo Escobar, Ecuador, and Ariel Be-har, Uruguay, def. Raven Klaasen, SouthAfrica, and Ben McLachlan, Japan, 6-7 (1),7-6 (3), 10-6.
Novak Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic, Ser-bia, def. Luke Saville and Alex de Minaur,Australia, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.
DEALS
Monday’s transactionsBASEBALL
Major League BaseballAmerican League
KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Released 1BRyan McBroom.
TEXAS RANGERS — Named Donnie Eckermajor league bench coach and offensivecoordinator and Josh Bonifay director ofplayer development.
National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Hired Jeff
Banister as bench coach.SAN DIEGO PADRES — Agreed to terms
with manager Bob Melvin on a three-yearcontract.
FOOTBALLNational Football League
ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed RB Ta-vien Feaster and OL Marcus Henry to thepractice squad. Released CB Lavert Hillfrom the practice squad.
ATLANTA FALCONS — Signed OL RyanNeuzil to the practice squad. Released KElliott Fry from the practice squad.
BALTIMORE RAVENS — Released TE EricTomlinson. Placed LB Malik Harrison onthe non-football injury list and OT AndreSmith on the practice squad injured re-serve.
CHICAGO BEARS — Reinstated TE JimmyGraham from the reserve/COVID-19 list.
GREEN BAY PACKERS — Designated WRMarquez Valdes-Scantling to return frominjured reserve. Reinstated WR Allen La-zard from the reserve/COVID-19 list.Placed RB Kylin Hill and TE Robert Tonyanon injured reserve.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Released QBBrett Hundley and WR J.J. Nelson. PlacedDE Tyquan Lewis on injured reserve. Pro-moted RB Deon Jackson and S Josh Jonesfrom the practice squad to the active ros-ter.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Signed DLJeremiah Ledbetter to the practice squad.Reinstated OL Badara Traore from thepractice squad injured reserve. ReleasedWR Josh Imatorbhebhe. Claimed RB De-vine Ozigbo off waivers from New Orleans.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS — Promoted DEAustin Edwards and LB Darius Harris fromthe practice squad to the active roster.
LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Reinstated LB Ja-vin White from injured reserve and S Ha HaClinton-Dix from the practice squad in-jured reserve.
NEW YORK GIANTS — Promoted LB TrentHarris and LB Berardrick McKinney to theactive roster from the practice squad. Re-instated DB Steven Parker from the phys-ically unable to perform (PUP) list. PlacedDB Aaron Robinson and LB Carter Cough-lin on injured reserve.
TENNESSEE TITANS — Placed RB DerrickHenry on injured reserve.
HOCKEYNational Hockey League
NHL — Suspended Montreal F Cedric Pa-quette two games, without pay, for board-ing Anaheim F Trevor Zegras during Sun-day’s game.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Recalled CKevin Stenlund from Cleveland (AHL).
DALLAS STARS — Recalled D ThomasHarley from Texas (AHL).
MONTREAL CANADIENS — Sent RW ColeCaufield to Laval (AHL).
NEW YORK RANGERS — Signed D AdamFox to a seven-year cotract extension.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING — Recalled C Ga-briel Dumont from Syracuse (AHL). Sent DFredrick Claesson to Syracuse.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Recalled DTravis Hamonic from Abbotsford (AHL).Sent D Jack Rathbone to Abbotsford.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Recalled CAliaksei Protas from Hershey (AHL).
AUTO RACINGNASCAR — Announced Kyle Busch will
be required to complete sensitivity train-ing before the start of the 2022 season as aresult of language used during a post-raceinterview that is in violation of NASCAR’sconduct guidelines.
SOCCERMajor League Soccer
HOUSTON DYNAMO FC — Named Pat On-stad general manager.
COLLEGESYRACUSE — Named Ashleigh DeBoue
women’s basketball director of oper-ations.
GOLF
World rankings
Through Oct. 31
1. Jon Rahm ESP 9.942. Collin Morikawa USA 8.513. Dustin Johnson USA 8.434. Patrick Cantlay USA 7.335. Xander Schauffele USA 6.986. Bryson DeChambeau USA 6.777. Justin Thomas USA 6.698. Rory McIlroy NIR 6.459. Louis Oosthuizen SAF 5.95
10. Jordan Spieth USA 5.4411. Tony Finau USA 5.3812. Hideki Matsuyama JPN 5.3613. Brooks Koepka USA 5.3614. Abraham Ancer MEX 5.2415. Harris English USA 5.2216. Daniel Berger USA 5.1317. Viktor Hovland NOR 5.0418. Tyrrell Hatton ENG 5.0419. Sam Burns USA 4.9820. Billy Horschel USA 4.6821. Cameron Smith AUS 4.5822. Patrick Reed USA 4.5023. Sungjae Im KOR 4.4324. Scottie Scheffler USA 4.3225. Webb Simpson USA 4.28
Nov. 31899 — Jim Jeffries beats Sailor Tom
Sharkey to retain the world heavyweighttitle after referee George Siler stops thefight in the 25th round at the Greater NewYork Athletic Club.
1968 — Jim Turner of New York kicks sixfield goals to lead the Jets to a 25-21 victo-ry over the Buffalo Bills.
1973 — Roosevelt Leaks rushes for 342yards to lead Texas to a 42-14 victory overSouthern Methodist.
1973 — Jay Miller sets an NCAA record
with 22 catches for 263 yards as BrighamYoung beats New Mexico 56-21.
1990 — David Klingler tosses seven TDpasses, offsetting the NCAA record of 690passing yards by Texas Christian substi-tute quarterback Matt Vogler, to leadHouston to a 56-35 victory.
2007 — Navy snaps an NCAA-record 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame with a46-44 victory in triple overtime. It’s thefirst time Navy beat Notre Dame since a35-14 win in 1963 when Roger Staubachwas quarterback for the Midshipmen.
AP SPORTLIGHT
PITTSBURGH — The Pitts-
burgh Steelers have traded veter-
an outside linebacker Melvin In-
gram to the Kansas City Chiefs for
a sixth-round pick in the 2022
draft.
The teams made the announce-
ment Tuesday, hours before the
NFL’s trade deadline.
The move gives Kansas City’s
struggling defense some much-
needed help, though Ingram did
sit out Pittsburgh’s win over Cle-
veland on Sunday with what the
team called a groin injury.
Ingram spent the first nine
years of his career with the Los
Angeles Chargers before signing a
one-year deal with Pittsburgh in
July. He played a fair amount
early in the season while Steelers
star T.J. Watt and second-year
outside linebacker Alex High-
smith dealt with injuries.
The 32-year-old Ingram had
one sack and 10 tackles in six
games with Pittsburgh.
Illini’s Cockburn to sit 3
games for selling itemsCHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The
NCAA has suspended Illinois cen-
ter Kofi Cockburn for the first
three games of the season because
he sold apparel and memorabilia
before new regulations that allow
athletes to participate in money-
making ventures went into effect.
The Associated Press presea-
son All-American is set to play his
first game Nov. 22 against Cincin-
nati in Kansas City, Mo., accord-
ing to the school’s announcement
Monday.
The 7-foot center will miss the
11th-ranked Illini’s first two home
games, Nov. 9 against Jackson
State and Nov. 12 against Arkan-
sas State, as well as a Nov. 15 game
against Marquette in the Gavitt
Tipoff Games. He is permitted to
practice with the team during the
suspension.
The suspension is required as
part of the reinstatement process
that was triggered because Cock-
burn sold institutionally issued
apparel and memorabilia in June,
the university said. The state of Il-
linois and the NCAA enacted new
name, image and likeness legisla-
tion on July 1 that would have
made these sales permissible.
FIFA visits second set
of potential host citiesSEATTLE — FIFA and CON-
CACAF are inching closer to mak-
ing the final call on which cities in
the U.S., Canada and Mexico will
host matches for the 2026 World
Cup, with decisions expected
sometime next spring.
The FIFA and CONCACAF del-
egation wrapped up its second set
of site visits Monday in Seattle,
which is seen as one of the stron-
gest candidates for hosting match-
es due to its soccer history, favor-
able summertime weather and as
the sole city in the Pacific North-
west to bid.
FIFA chief tournaments and
events officer Colin Smith said all
site visits should be completed by
the end of November, with a deci-
sion expected sometime toward
the end of March or early April.
The 2026 World Cup will be the
first with 48 teams but it also pre-
sents a logistical challenge with
the largest geographic footprint of
any World Cup to date. Games
could be played from Edmonton,
Alberta, to Mexico City and Seat-
tle to Boston. Smith said they’re
currently thinking 16 cities will be
selected as hosts, but that is not
set.
Seattle was at the tail end of a se-
ries of site visits that included
Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas,
Denver, Houston, Monterrey,
Mexico, and San Francisco. The
delegation visited Boston, Nash-
ville, Atlanta, Orlando, Washing-
ton, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Miami and the New York-New
Jersey area in September.
In other soccer news:
Former FIFA officials Sepp
Blatter and Michel Platini were
charged with fraud and other of-
fenses by Swiss prosecutors on
Tuesday after a six-year investi-
gation into a controversial $2 mil-
lion payment.
The 85-year-old Blatter and 66-
year-old Platini now face a trial at
federal criminal court in Bellinzo-
na. They could be jailed for sever-
al years if found guilty, though
Swiss cases often take years to re-
ach a conclusion.
Melvin gets 3-year
contract with PadresSAN DIEGO — The San Diego
Padres announced the hiring of
Bob Melvin as manager on Mon-
day, bringing a veteran presence
to an exciting team that imploded
down the stretch.
Melvin takes his 18 years of big
league managerial experience to a
team where his two predecessors
had no experience as a major
league skipper before they were
hired. Melvin, 60, signed a three-
year contract.
Melvin was hired away from the
Oakland Athletics, where he was
853-764 in 11 seasons. He also
managed the Seattle Mariners and
Arizona Diamondbacks and is
1,346-1,272 overall.
BRIEFLY
Steelers deal veteranLB Ingram to Chiefs
Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19
NHL
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Florida 9 8 0 1 17 36 18
Buffalo 8 5 2 1 11 25 17
Tampa Bay 9 5 3 1 11 29 30
Detroit 9 4 3 2 10 29 31
Toronto 9 4 4 1 9 21 29
Boston 7 4 3 0 8 18 20
Ottawa 8 3 5 0 6 20 25
Montreal 10 2 8 0 4 19 34
Metropolitan Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Carolina 8 8 0 0 16 33 12
N.Y. Rangers 9 6 2 1 13 22 19
Washington 9 5 1 3 13 32 22
Columbus 8 5 3 0 10 23 22
Philadelphia 7 4 2 1 9 25 21
New Jersey 7 4 2 1 9 21 21
N.Y. Islan-ders
7 3 2 2 8 17 18
Pittsburgh 8 3 3 2 8 26 25
Western Conference
Central Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
St. Louis 7 6 1 0 12 29 15
Winnipeg 8 4 2 2 10 28 26
Minnesota 8 5 3 0 10 22 26
Nashville 8 4 4 0 8 23 22
Colorado 8 4 4 0 8 24 27
Dallas 8 3 4 1 7 15 22
Chicago 10 1 7 2 4 22 38
Arizona 9 0 8 1 1 13 39
Pacific Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Edmonton 8 7 1 0 14 38 23
Calgary 8 6 1 1 13 29 15
San Jose 8 5 3 0 10 22 19
Anaheim 10 3 4 3 9 31 35
Vegas 8 4 4 0 8 21 26
Los Angeles 9 3 5 1 7 24 27
Vancouver 9 3 5 1 7 22 25
Seattle 10 3 6 1 7 27 37
Sunday’s games
Carolina 2, Arizona 1 Los Angeles 3, Buffalo 2 Anaheim 4, Montreal 2 Columbus 4, New Jersey 3, SO N.Y. Rangers 3, Seattle 1
Monday’s games
Tampa Bay 3, Washington 2 Chicago 5, Ottawa 1 Edmonton 5, Seattle 2
Tuesday’s games
Arizona at Philadelphia Detroit at Montreal Vegas at Toronto Dallas at Winnipeg Ottawa at Minnesota Nashville at Calgary N.Y. Rangers at Vancouver New Jersey at Anaheim Buffalo at San Jose
Wednesday’s games
Carolina at Chicago Nashville at Edmonton Columbus at Colorado St. Louis at Los Angeles
Thursday’s games
Detroit at Boston N.Y. Islanders at Montreal Philadelphia at Pittsburgh Tampa Bay at Toronto Vegas at Ottawa Washington at Florida Dallas at Calgary Buffalo at Seattle St. Louis at San Jose
LeadersThrough Monday
Game-winning goals
Name G GW
Cam Atkinson, Philadelphia 7 2
Aleksander Barkov, Florida 9 2
Sam Bennett, Florida 8 2
Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit 7 2
Jonathan Dahlen, San Jose 7 2
Jake DeBrusk, Boston 7 2
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton 7 2
Ryan Hartman, Minnesota 8 2
Mike Hoffman, Montreal 7 2
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida 9 2
Alexis Lafreniere, N.Y. Rangers 9 2
Patrik Laine, Columbus 8 2
Elias Lindholmm, Calgary 8 2
Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary 8 2
William Nylander, Toronto 9 2
Ondrej Palat, Tampa Bay 8 2
Brandon Tanev, Seattle 9 2
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis 7 2
Dylan Larkin, Detroit 8 1
Filip Zadina, Detroit 9 1
Scoreboard
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. —
There was a Halloween party for
the Florida Panthers players and
their significant others on Sunday
night, allowing them to spend a
few hours enjoying each other’s
company while dressed up as
something or someone else.
Weirdly, it also helped the Pan-
thers to finally be themselves
again.
A wild opening stretch — exhil-
arating because the Panthers
strung together one of the longest
unbeaten runs to start a season in
NHL history, but emotionally ex-
hausting because coach Joel
Quenneville had to resign for his
role in how the Chicago Black-
hawks didn’t properly address a
player’s claims of sexual assault
by another coach 11 years ago — is
over.
Monday was simply a back-to-
work day for Florida, the first real
practice under interim coach An-
drew Brunette.
“We’re just grinding through
here right now,” Brunette said.
“Hopefully, this is a step toward
getting to the new normal.”
The team’s eight-game winning
streak to start the season ended
with a shootout loss in Boston on
Saturday night. At 8-0-1, the Pan-
thers have the most points in the
NHL, one ahead of Carolina —
which also started 8-0-0 and goes
for a ninth straight win Wednes-
day at Chicago. Should the Hurri-
canes win that game, they could
match the NHL record for consec-
utive wins to start a season on Sat-
urday when they visit Florida.
Last Tuesday saw Quenneville’s
name feature prominently in the
report summarizing the investiga-
tion into the Blackhawks’ actions
after Kyle Beach made his allega-
tions. OnThursday, Quenneville
stepped down. The next day, Bru-
nette made his debut in Detroit
and Florida won in overtime. And
on Saturday, the Panthers played
Boston again and lost in a shootout.
PAUL SANCYA/AP
Florida Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette watches against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.The team is 801 even though coach Joel Quenneville was forced to resign.
After an emotional week,Panthers seek normalcy
BY TIM REYNOLDS
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Andrei Vasilev-
skiy made 31 saves, Anthony Ci-
relli had a goal and two assists,
and the Tampa Bay Lightning
beat Washington 3-2 Monday
night, ending the Capitals’ eight-
game season-opening point
streak.
Alex Killorn and Brayden Point
also scored for Tampa Bay, and
Taylor Raddysh picked up his first
NHL point by assisting on Point’s
goal
Brett Leason got his first NHL
goal and Conor Sheary also scored
for Washington, which came in 5-
0-3. Vitek Vanecek stopped 23
shots.
Capitals star Alex Ovechkin had
his season-opening eight-game
point streak (nine goals, six as-
sists) end. He remains two goals
away from tying Brett Hull (741)
for fourth place all-time.
Blackhawks 5, Senators 1: Pa-
trick Kane had three goals and an
assist in his return to the lineup,
and host Chicago got its first win of
the season.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 29
saves in another solid perform-
ance as the Blackhawks improved
to 1-7-2 in front of a half-full Unit-
ed Center. Brandon Hagel scored
twice, and captain Jonathan
Toews had three assists.
Kane was sidelined for the pre-
vious four games because of the
NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. His
seventh hat trick in the regular
season gave him 408 career goals,
moving him ahead of Steve Larm-
er for third on the franchise list.
Kane also jumped over Denis Sa-
vard for third on the Blackhawks’
points list with 1,097.
Oilers 5, Kraken 2: Leon Drai-
saitl had two goals and two assists,
and host Edmonton extended its
strong start to the season with a
victory over Seattle.
Duncan Keith, Kyle Turris and
Kailer Yamamoto also scored for
the Oilers, who improved to 7-1-0.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 27 shots.
Lightningend Caps’point streak
Associated Press
ROUNDUP
MIKE CARLSON/AP
Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli (71)skates past Washingtons’ JohnCarlson on Monday.
NEW YORK — Adam Fox
agreed to terms on a seven-year
extension Tuesday with the New
York Rangers, a deal that keeps
the Norris Trophy-winning defen-
seman under contract through
2029.
Fox became one of the youngest
players to win the award last sea-
son after putting up 47 points in 55
games. He joined Hall of Famer
Bobby Orr as the only players to
win the Norris in one of his first
two NHL seasons.
The 23-year-old already has
nine points in New York’s first
nine games this season. Fox has 98
points in 134 regular-season
games since making his debut
with the Rangers in 2019.
The contract is reportedly
worth $66.5 million with an annual
salary cap hit of $9.5 million.
That’s the same cap hit as Boston
defenseman Charlie McAvoy,
who signed for $76 million over
eight years.
Penguins defensemen
enter COVID protocolCRANBERRY TOWNSHIP,
Pa. — Pittsburgh Penguins defen-
semen Marcus Pettersson and
Chad Ruhwedel entered the CO-
VID-19 protocol Monday after
testing positive for the coronavi-
rus.
Coach Mike Sullivan confirmed
the positive tests, and said Petters-
son is symptomatic while Ruhwe-
del is so far asymptomatic.
Pettersson and Ruhwedel are
the fifth and sixth members of the
Penguins to enter the protocol so
far this season, joining forwards
Jeff Carter, Jack Guentzel and
Zach Aston-Reese and defense-
man Kris Letang.
Letang, who was symptomatic,
has been cleared to return to the
team though it’s still too early to
say whether he’ll be available
Thursday when the Penguins host
Philadelphia. Carter, Guentzel
and Aston-Reese have returned.
Rangers, Fox agree on 7-year extensionAssociated Press
BRIEFS
PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
COLLEGE FOOTBALL/NBA
The first College Football Play-
off rankings of the season were
scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday
night, revealing the scope of the
national championship race while
also providing Exhibit A in the
case for expanding the field.
The current four-team format
is fine for crowning a deserving
champion, but it has reduced in-
terest in the rest of the nonplayoff
bowl games among fans, players
and even coaches while also nar-
rowing the focus during the final
month of the season to fewer than
10% of all major college football
teams.
Both the CFP selection com-
mittee, charged with ranking
teams, and the management com-
mittee, responsible for putting to-
gether a format to determine a
national champion, will be in
North Texas this week.
The selection committee’s
work finished Tuesday afternoon.
The management committee,
comprised of 10 conference com-
missioners and Notre Dame’s ath-
letic director, is scheduled to
meet Wednesday and Thursday
as it tries to hammer out the fu-
ture structure of the CFP. There
is a lot of support for a proposed
12-team format, but consensus
needs to be unanimous and that is
not yet the case.
When the 12-team model was
made public in June, participa-
tion was touted as one of the main
reasons for expansion.
“The practical effect of this will
be that with four or five weeks to
go in the season, there will be 25
or 30 teams that have a legitimate
claim and practical opportunity to
participate,” Big 12 Commission-
er Bob Bowlsby said back in
June. “That should make for an
extraordinarily good October and
November.”
Without even seeing the com-
mittee’s rankings, a glance at the
AP Top 25 and seven years of
CFP selections make it easy to see
which teams head into November
with a realistic chance to reach
the final four.
Unbeaten Power Five confer-
ence teams: Georgia, Oklahoma,
Michigan State, Wake Forest.
Power Five teams with one loss
and a chance to win a conference:
Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Mi-
chigan, Oklahoma State, Baylor.
History suggests that’s the list.
No team from a non-Power
Five conference has ever made
the playoff. No team with more
than one loss has ever made the
playoff.
However, the committee has
shown some signs of warming up
to schools from the so-called
Group of Five conferences in re-
cent years, so slide unbeaten Cin-
cinnati onto that pile.
There is a first time for every-
thing, so if you want to stretch the
list — and the imagination — a
little further, add a couple of SEC
teams that are still in position to
win the conference with two loss-
es.
Add Notre Dame with one loss,
because you never know.
That’s, at most, 14 of 130 FBS
teams with CFP aspirations and
five weeks left to play.
If the proposed 12-team format,
with automatic bids for the six
highest-ranked FBS conference
champions, was in place this sea-
son, a conservative count of
teams that would currently have
playoff hopes would be more than
double that.
That would include any team
from a Power Five conference
with two losses or fewer, but in
reality even a team with three
losses entering November would
still be in play to make a run.
“When we did the analysis of
this, one of the things that jumped
out was in the current model ... in
four of the last five years, in the
initial selection, no one has
moved further than from seventh
to the final four, which doesn’t
promote the long-term interest
over the season that we might
like,” Notre Dame AD Jack Swar-
brick said.
Using past final selection com-
mittee rankings to fill out a 12-
team bracket with the proposed
criteria, 12 teams with at least
three losses — all from Power
Five conferences — would have
made the playoff from 2014-19.
GERALD HERBERT/AP
Cincinnati tight end Josh Whyle (81) celebrates his touchdown catch with quarterback Desmond Ridderduring Saturday’s game against Tulane. The Bearcats are undefeated and could be in the top four of thefirst College Football Playoff rankings.
Rankings revealscope of playoffMake case for future expansion
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
coach Quin Snyder said. “I’m cautiously op-
timistic that that’ll balance itself out.”
Snyder compared the current points of
emphasis to a previous crackdown on flop-
ping. The idea is to curtail certain tricks that
seem to have no purpose other than draw-
ing fouls.
“Some of the gamesmanship involved,
whether it’s kicking a leg into someone,
stopping and going backwards and having
someone run into you, grabbing someone’s
arm when you’re not in a shooting motion,”
Snyder said.
Young said he agreed with targeting cer-
tain egregious examples, but he said he was
frustrated with the way the game is now be-
ing called. Young averaged 8.7 free-throw
attempts a game last season, and that num-
ber is down to 5.3 so far in 2021-22.
It’s a similar story for some other perim-
eter stars. Damian Lillard’s average has
dipped from 7.2 to 3.9, Bradley Beal’s from
7.7 to 4.2, and Luka Doncic’s from 7.1 to 4.7.
Star big men may not be exempt: Joel Em-
biid averaged 10.7 free throws last season,
and that’s dropped to 8.8.
And then there’s James Harden, who has
turned drawing fouls into an art form in
which the beauty is very much in the eye of
the beholder. Harden dealt with injury
problems last season, but in 2019-20, he av-
eraged a whopping 11.8 free-throw attempts
per game.
That figure is down to 5.3 this season.
Harden attempted 19 free throws in a win
over Indiana on Friday night, but he has had
four or fewer in every other game.
“I think it’s difficult for the players, for
the referees, and the coaches,” said Steve
Nash, Harden’s coach with the Brooklyn
Nets. “I think we’re all just trying to get
through this period where we become ac-
customed to where the line is.”
Beyond the impact on a few high-profile
players, some leaguewide stats are also
showing a decline. The NBA average so far
this season is 19.9 free throws per game, per
team. That’s down from 21.8 in 2020-21. Ad-
ditionally, the league is shooting 45% from
the field so far and 34% from three-point
range, down from 47% and 37%.
“I have noticed that you’re allowed to be
much more physical with the driver or fin-
isher at the rim,” Nash said. “How that will
maintain itself throughout the year is yet to
be seen.”
Detroit Pistons coach Dwane Casey said
the dip in three-point shooting may be be-
cause of an increase in defensive switching.
“That’s taking away some of the easy
threes,” he said.
Casey said there’s a competition commit-
tee meeting Tuesday where these issues
can be discussed.
“We talk about this idea of cause and ef-
fect, the changing of the rules, and I think
you’ve seen it in some of the shooting per-
centages and attempts and everything,”
Casey said. “It’s an adjustment for everybo-
dy.”
Mixed: League-wide stats are being affected by officiating changesFROM PAGE 24
AP sports writer Steve Megargee contributed to this report.
MATT SLOCUM/AP
Damian Lillard’s average number of free throws per game has dipped from 7.2 to 3.9.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21
NBA
BOSTON — DeMar DeRozan
scored 37 points and the Chicago
Bulls rallied from a 19-point, sec-
ond-half deficit on Monday night
to beat the Boston Celtics 128-114
and improve to 6-1 for the season.
Zach LaVine scored 26 points
and Nikola Vucevic had 11 points,
10 rebounds and nine assists for
Chicago, which outscored Boston
39-11 in the fourth quarter to turn a
14-point lead into a 14-point victo-
ry.
“It was very gratifying to see we
kept the fight,” DeRozan said.
“We were down big on the road,
tough place to play, we didn't get
rattled.”
Jaylen Brown scored 28 for the
Celtics, who have lost three in a
row and left their home court to
boos. Al Horford had 20 points and
10 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum
scored 20 for Boston.
“We got up, got comfortable, got
a little bit too cute thinking the
game was over in the third quar-
ter,” said Boston coach Ime Udo-
ka, who fell to 2-5 in his first sea-
son at the helm. “We started cele-
brating early. It’s a good lesson
learned: You mess with the game,
it will come back to bite you.”
The Celtics led 94-75 with about
three minutes left in the third
quarter and still had a 103-89 lead
entering the fourth. But the Bulls
scored the first 12 points in the
fourth to cut the deficit to two
points, 103-101, with just over 8
minutes left.
Ayo Dosunmu, a second-round
draft pick who had his first dou-
ble-digit NBA game with 14 points,
hit a three-pointer with 6:53 left to
put Chicago up 106-105. Boston
briefly retook the lead before the
Bulls scored 18 of the next 20
points.
“We’re running plays for our
best players. Every team knows
that. They do a good job of shutting
that down,” Celtics guard Marcus
Smart said. “We can’t allow that.”
DeRozan rallies Bulls past CelticsGuard scores 37, helpsChicago erase 19-pointdeficit, improve to 6-1
BY JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press
MICHAEL DWYER/AP
Chicago's DeMar DeRozan, left, battles the Boston Celtics’ Al Horford for a loose ball during the Bulls’128114 win Monday in Boston. DeRozan led the Bulls with 37 points.
NEW YORK — OG Anunoby scored a ca-
reer-high 36 points and the Toronto Raptors
won their fourth straight by beating the New
York Knicks 113-104 on Monday night in the
75th anniversary of the NBA’s first game.
Gary Trent Jr. added 26 points for the Rap-
tors, who surged into the lead by outscoring the
Knicks 38-22 in the third quarter. Fred VanV-
leet finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and
seven assists.
The Raptors took the lead for good during
the period when Svi Mykhailiuk’s three-point-
er made it 68-66 — the same score by which the
Knicks beat the Toronto Huskies on Nov. 1,
1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Mykhailiuk finished with 15 points in place
of Scottie Barnes, who was leading all rookies
with 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He
has a sprained right thumb.
RJ Barrett scored 27 points for the Knicks,
who were trying for their first 6-1 start since
2012-13. Julius Randle had 22 points, nine re-
bounds and five assists.
Cavaliers 113, Hornets 110: Jarrett Allen
had 24 points and 16 rebounds as Cleveland
held off a frantic fourth-quarter rally at Char-
lotte to close out a five-game trip on a positive
note.
Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points, Evan
Mobley added 15 points and 10 rebounds and
Darius Garland had 16 points — including two
clutch free throws with 14.9 seconds left — as
the Cavaliers went 3-2 on the road.
76ers 113, Trail Blazers 103: Seth Curry
stepped up in Joel Embiid’s absence, scoring
23 points — including several key buckets late
— to lead short-handed Philadelphia over vis-
iting Portland.
Embiid, the team’s leading scorer and four-
time All-Star, was out to rest — his first missed
game of the season. The 76ers also were with-
out Tobias Harris (health and safety proto-
cols), who was a late scratch, and lost starter
Danny Green in the third quarter due to
hamstring tightness but not before he scored 11
points.
Grizzlies 106, Nuggets 97: Ja Morant had
26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and
Tyus Jones added 17 points in Memphis’ victo-
ry over visiting Denver.
Xavier Tillman had 12 points, while Des-
mond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. finished
with 11 each as the Grizzlies snapped a three-
game losing streak to the Nuggets.
Magic 115, Timberwolves 97: Cole Antho-
ny scored a season-high 31 points and Wendell
Carter Jr. chipped in 15 points and 14 rebounds
as Orlando came from behind to win at Minne-
sota.
Rookie Franz Wagner had 28 points for the
Magic, who snapped a four-game losing streak,
while Minnesota native Jalen Suggs scored 15
points. Orlando trailed by 11 late in the third
quarter before rallying with a strong night
from the 3-point line by Anthony.
Hawks 118, Wizards 111: Trae Young
scored 26 points and Clint Capela had 16 points
and 12 rebounds to help Atlanta beat visiting
Washington.
Bradley Beal scored 19 of his 24 points in the
first half for the Wizards, who had their three-
game win streak halted and lost their fifth in a
row at State Farm Arena. A victory would’ve
given 5-2 Washington its best start to a season
since the 1974-75 Bullets were 7-0.
Pacers 131, Spurs 118: Domantas Sabonis
had 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Myles
Turner added 19 points to lead host Indiana
past struggling San Antonio.
Clippers 99, Thunder 94: Paul George
scored 32 points, Reggie Jackson added 15 and
host Los Angeles rallied from a nine-point def-
icit late in the fourth quarter to beat Oklahoma
City.
Raptors top Knicks in 75th anniversary of first gameAssociated Press
ROUNDUP
FRANK FRANKLIN II/AP
Toronto’s OG Anunoby drives past theKnicks’ Julius Randle during the Raptors’113104 win Monday in New York.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
W L Pct GB
New York 5 2 .714 —
Philadelphia 5 2 .714 —
Toronto 5 3 .625 ½
Brooklyn 4 3 .571 1
Boston 2 5 .286 3
Southeast Division
W L Pct GB
Miami 5 1 .833 —
Washington 5 2 .714 ½
Charlotte 5 3 .625 1
Atlanta 4 3 .571 1½
Orlando 2 6 .250 4
Central Division
W L Pct GB
Chicago 6 1 .857 —
Cleveland 4 4 .500 2½
Milwaukee 3 4 .429 3
Indiana 2 6 .250 4½
Detroit 1 5 .167 4½
Western Conference
Southwest Division
W L Pct GB
Dallas 4 2 .667 —
Memphis 4 3 .571 ½
San Antonio 2 5 .286 2½
Houston 1 5 .167 3
New Orleans 1 6 .143 3½
Northwest Division
W L Pct GB
Utah 5 1 .833 —
Denver 4 3 .571 1½
Minnesota 3 3 .500 2
Portland 3 4 .429 2½
Oklahoma City 1 6 .143 4½
Pacific Division
W L Pct GB
Golden State 5 1 .833 —
L.A. Lakers 4 3 .571 1½
Sacramento 3 3 .500 2
Phoenix 2 3 .400 2½
L.A. Clippers 2 4 .333 3
Monday’s games
Indiana 131, San Antonio 118 Philadelphia 113, Portland 103 Cleveland 113, Charlotte 110 Toronto 113, New York 104 Chicago 128, Boston 114 Atlanta 118, Washington 111 Memphis 106, Denver 97 Orlando 115, Minnesota 97 L.A. Clippers 99, Oklahoma City 94
Tuesday’s games
Milwaukee at Detroit Miami at Dallas Sacramento at Utah New Orleans at Phoenix Houston at L.A. Lakers
Wednesday’s games
Boston at Orlando Chicago at Philadelphia New York at Indiana Portland at Cleveland Toronto at Washington Atlanta at Brooklyn Denver at Memphis L.A. Clippers at Minnesota Dallas at San Antonio Charlotte at Golden State New Orleans at Sacramento
Thursday’s games
Philadelphia at Detroit Boston at Miami Utah at Atlanta Houston at Phoenix Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers
Leaders
Through Monday
Scoring
G FG FT PTS AVG
Curry, GS 6 54 33 172 28.7
Morant, MEM 7 75 33 198 28.3
George, LAC 6 65 17 170 28.3
Durant, BKN 7 74 35 194 27.7
Antetokounmpo, MIL 7 69 44 191 27.3
Rebounds
G OFF DEF TOT AVG
Gobert, UTA 6 25 78 103 17.2
Valanciunas, NO 7 33 69 102 14.6
Adebayo, MIA 5 14 56 70 14.0
Assists
G AST AVG
Paul, PHO 5 53 10.6
Young, ATL 7 66 9.4
Westbrook, LAL 7 61 8.7
Scoreboard
PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
WOLRD SERIES/COLLEGE BASKETBALL
HOUSTON — Late innings
means late nights in the World Se-
ries, with many fans struggling to
stay awake as the Braves and As-
tros play baseball’s most impor-
tant games of the year.
The first five Series games aver-
aged 3 hours, 41 minutes, up from
3:37 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’
six-game win over Tampa Bay last
year. The opener took 4:06 and
Game 5 lasted exactly 4 hours,
both ending after midnight on the
East Coast.
This year’s overall postseason
average of 3:38 is an increase from
3:32 last year.
Sooner or later, Major League
Baseball will institute a pitch clock
— with or without an agreement
with the players’ association.
“I want to be really clear about
this,” Commissioner Rob Manfred
said before the Series opener. “We
have rights under the agreement
to do certain things with a certain
process that’s been followed.
There’s going to come a point in
time where the pressure to make
change is going to be sufficient. I
prefer to do it by reaching an
agreement with the players.”
MLB has the right to unilaterally
change on-field rules with one
year of advance notice to the union.
During the 2016-17 offseason,
MLB proposed a 20-second timer
in many situations, with a second
violation resulting in the umpire
calling a ball.
As part of a March 2019 agree-
ment that increased active rosters
from 25 to 26 players and mandat-
ed a pitcher face three batters or
finish an inning, MLB agreed not
to implement a pitch clock through
2021.
Players have been reluctant to
consider a clock. Union head Tony
Clark, a former All-Star first base-
man, didn’t give a direct answer
when asked whether he wanted to
see a crisper product on the field.
“I’m a former player. I owe ev-
erything to the game. So do I watch
it? Do I critique it? Do I analyze it?
Am I willing to have a conversation
about its well-being?” he said. "Al-
ways have and will continue to.
That’s not going to change. And I’m
sure that at the end of the World Se-
ries, the dialogue that we’ve had to
this point will continue.”
Nine-inning games averaged a
record 3:10:07 during the regular
season, up from 3:07:46 for the
pandemic-shortened 2020 season
and 3:05:35 in 2019. The average
was 2:49 in 1991 and 2:33 in 1981.
A pitch clock would eliminate
much of the dead time caused
when hitters step out of the batter’s
box and pitchers back off the
mound and take deep breaths on
the infield grass.
“I absolutely am in favor of it,”
broadcaster Bob Costas said. “For
obvious reasons, it gets trickier
with men on base.”
Minor league Triple-A and Dou-
ble-A games have had a 20-second
pitch clock since 2015.
“It’s not that hard,” said Hous-
ton outfielder Kyle Tucker, who
first reached the majors in 2018
and spent time at Triple-A in 2019.
“You just, I don’t know, speed it up
a little bit, I guess.”
Atest was held this season at mi-
nor league Low-A West, setting the
clock at 15 seconds with the bases
empty, 17 seconds with runners on,
30 seconds between batters and
2:15 for half-inning breaks and
pitching changes.
The 316 nine-inning games with
the clock averaged 2:41, down
from 3:02 for the 91 games without
a clock.
“Certainly encouraging,”
Manfred said. “Game times in the
2:40s, which is a really sort of nice
number when you think about it in
comparison to where we’ve been. I
think maybe more important than
that is that people that go and
watch the games feel like the pace
of the game, the action in the game
has really been improved, that it
actually alters the requirement of
moving along pitching, kind of
changes the game the way it’s
played a little bit. And that would
be a useful change for us.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker
and Astros manager Dusty Baker
both think the primary cause of
lengthy postseason games is time
between innings. The break has
been set at 2 minutes, 55 seconds
for at least 20 years, with 2:25 for
extra innings and pitching chang-
es. That is up from 2:05 inning
breaks during the regular season,
except for 2:25 during nationally
broadcast games.
“Commercial time pays the
bills, and that’s the reality of it all,”
Baker said. “You can cut down the
commercial time, and then you've
got to cut down the amount of mon-
ey that’s passed around.”
ASHLEY LANDIS / AP
Members of the Braves watch during the ninth inning of Game 5 of World Series against the Astros onSunday in Atlanta. Houston forced a Game 6 with 95 victory.
Longer games, late nightsbring more calls for clock
BY RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
World Series
x-if necessary(Best-of-seven)
Atlanta 3, Houston 2Atlanta 6, Houston 2Houston 7, Atlanta 2Atlanta 2, Houston 0Atlanta 3, Houston 2Houston 9, Atlanta 5Tuesday: at Houston AFN-Sports, 1 a.m.
Wednesday CET; 9 a.m. Wednesday JKTx-Wednesday: at Houston AFN-Sports, 1
a.m. Thursday CET; 9 a.m. Thursday JKT
Scoreboard
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. —
Hartford men’s basketball coach
John Gallagher sat his team down
last season after the school’s first
NCAA Tournament appearance to
talk about a decision the university
had just made to downgrade its ath-
letic programs from Division I to Di-
vision III.
Though the change, which the
school says will save it about $9 mil-
lion a year, won’t happen right away,
the coach told his returning players
that he understood if they wanted to
transfer.
None of them did.
“The season’s a success just on
that for me,” Gallagher said. “What
we preach about the neighborhood.
What we preach about the 12 years
of building this. We’ve succeeded,
whatever happens, because we lit-
erally have a brotherhood here.”
Hartford, which joined Division I
in the mid-1980s, plans to submit a
formal request to the NCAA for re-
classification in January. It intends
to stop offering athletic scholarships
before the 2023-24 school year and
hopes to complete the transition by
Sept. 1, 2025.
Gallagher’s players say there
were several reasons they decided
to keep playing at Hartford, includ-
ing that their coach told them he
wasn’t going anywhere.
They also think they have a
chance to have another successful
season, to add another America East
title and maybe even change some
minds about downgrading the pro-
gram.
“We’re doing it for each other and
we’re definitely doing it for the stu-
dents, so we can show them that this
fight isn’t over yet,” said Austin Wil-
liams, a fifth-year senior who aver-
aged 14.1 points and 6.2 rebounds
last season. “We’re going to keep on
pushing and try to show the school
that athletics are important.”
Senior guard D.J. Mitchell ac-
knowledged that he initially had
some mixed feelings about putting
on a jersey for a school whose lead-
ership pulled the rug out from under
the athletic department.
But he said the greater university
community — the alumni, the fans
and even the athletes that will come
after him — deserve to get every-
thing he has to offer on the court.
“There’s people who have been
supporting this school for years and
we’re doing this for them,” he said.
“That’s the neighborhood that coach
Gal talks about. I personally and all
my teammates I know are going to
do whatever we can to make sure it
doesn’t happen and things go back to
the way we think it should be.”
The team finished last season 15-9
and won its conference tournament
before losing as a 16 seed, 79-55, to
eventual national champion Baylor
in the first round of the NCAA Tour-
nament.
The Hawks will raise their con-
ference championship banner at
home on Nov. 18 against Boston Uni-
versity.
They are picked to finish fourth in
the conference this season but re-
turn a strong core from last year’s
team as well as several newcomers,
including transfer DeJuan Clayton,
who scored 1,518 points at Coppin
State.
“Seven of the guys next year are
going to be recruited at the SEC, Big
East, Big Ten level,” Gallagher pre-
dicted.
The coach said he’s hopeful that a
court challenge or pressure from
alumni might keep his program at
the Division I. But he said he has no
plans to leave the school, at least not
yet.
“We’re a long-game program,” he
said. “If we stay Division I, the next
10 years will be historic here. And if
we have to pack our bags and move
the neighborhood somewhere else,
it’s going to be historic there.”
MARK HUMPHREY / AP
Hartford men’s basketball coach John Gallagher yells to his playersduring an NCAA tournament game against Baylor on March 19.
Hartford playerssticking it out asschool shifts to D3
BY PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23
NFL
American Conference
East
W L T Pct PF PA
Buffalo 5 2 0 .714 229 109
New England 4 4 0 .500 206 164
N.Y. Jets 2 5 0 .286 114 206
Miami 1 7 0 .125 138 233
South
W L T Pct PF PA
Tennessee 6 2 0 .750 227 195
Indianapolis 3 5 0 .375 200 183
Jacksonville 1 6 0 .143 123 203
Houston 1 7 0 .125 119 241
North
W L T Pct PF PA
Baltimore 5 2 0 .714 187 164
Cincinnati 5 3 0 .625 220 162
Pittsburgh 4 3 0 .571 132 142
Cleveland 4 4 0 .500 183 180
West
W L T Pct PF PA
Las Vegas 5 2 0 .714 180 166
L.A. Chargers 4 3 0 .571 172 177
Denver 4 4 0 .500 157 137
Kansas City 4 4 0 .500 208 220
National Conference
East
W L T Pct PF PA
Dallas 6 1 0 .857 225 162
Philadelphia 3 5 0 .375 203 191
N.Y. Giants 2 6 0 .250 156 200
Washington 2 6 0 .250 156 227
South
W L T Pct PF PA
Tampa Bay 6 2 0 .750 260 183
New Orleans 5 2 0 .714 176 128
Carolina 4 4 0 .500 165 159
Atlanta 3 4 0 .429 148 195
North
W L T Pct PF PA
Green Bay 7 1 0 .875 192 167
Minnesota 3 4 0 .429 163 157
Chicago 3 5 0 .375 123 195
Detroit 0 8 0 .000 134 244
West
W L T Pct PF PA
Arizona 7 1 0 .875 246 138
L.A. Rams 7 1 0 .875 245 168
San Francisco 3 4 0 .429 168 171
Seattle 3 5 0 .375 181 169
Thursday, Oct. 28
Green Bay 24, Arizona 21
Sunday’s games
Buffalo 26, Miami 11Carolina 19, Atlanta 13L.A. Rams 38, Houston 22N.Y. Jets 34, Cincinnati 31Philadelphia 44, Detroit 6Pittsburgh 15, Cleveland 10San Francisco 33, Chicago 22Tennessee 34, Indianapolis 31, OTNew England 27, L.A. Chargers 24Seattle 31, Jacksonville 7Denver 17, Washington 10New Orleans 36, Tampa Bay 27Dallas 20, Minnesota 16Open: Baltimore, Las Vegas
Monday’s game
Kansas City 20, N.Y. Giants 17
Thursday's game
N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis
Sunday, Nov. 7
Atlanta at New OrleansBuffalo at JacksonvilleCleveland at CincinnatiDenver at DallasHouston at MiamiLas Vegas at N.Y. GiantsMinnesota at BaltimoreNew England at CarolinaL.A. Chargers at PhiladelphiaArizona at San FranciscoGreen Bay at Kansas CityTennessee at L.A. RamsOpen: Detroit, Seattle, Tampa Bay,
Washington
Monday, Nov. 8
Chicago at Pittsburgh
Scoreboard
CLEVELAND — Baltimore Ravens starting
linebacker Malik Harrison was recovering
Monday after being struck in the leg by a stray
bullet while police said he was outside a Cleve-
land nightclub.
The Ravens released a statement saying
Harrison suffered a non-life-threatening inju-
ry when he was shot in the left calf while at-
tending a gathering Sunday night. The 23-
year-old was treated at a hospital and has been
in touch with team doctors.
“I don't think it's severe at all,” Baltimore
coach John Harbaugh said. “I'm optimistic
that it's going to be OK. I feel bad for the sit-
uation. Happy that he's OK, very grateful that
he's OK and not hurt worse.”
The Ravens, who lead the AFC North, had
their bye last week. They host the Minnesota
Vikings on Sunday.
According to a Cleveland police report ob-
tained by The Associated Press, Harrison told
officers, who were arresting four men in-
volved in a shooting, that he was at a downtown
club Sunday night when a fight broke out.
Harrison told police that security kicked
people out of the club and he was outside with a
group when they spotted someone with a fire-
arm. Harrison said everyone began running
and he heard shots fired.
Some details of the incident, as well as Har-
rison's medical information, is redacted in the
report.
Harrison, who played at Ohio State, was
drafted by Baltimore in the third round last
year. He started six games as a rookie, getting
44 tackles. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder has
started five games this season.
“I want to thank everyone from the bottom
of my heart for all the thoughts and prayers
that you have sent my way the last 24 hours,”
Harrison said in a message posted on Twitter
on Monday night. “I want to thank the EMS
crew and the staff at the hospital for treating
me.”
Ravens LB Harrison shot in Cleveland
TERRANCE WILLIAMS/AP
Ravens LB Malik Harrison was shot in theleg outside a Cleveland nightclub on Sunday.
BY TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick
Mahomes lamented two more turn-
overs and Chiefs coach Andy Reid a
multitude of penalties, and just
about everyone that stepped out of
the Kansas City locker room vowed
to turn around what’s been a disap-
pointing season.
It almost sounded as if they’d lost
to the Giants on Monday night.
Instead, the scuffling Chiefs ral-
lied behind two fourth-quarter field
goals from Harrison Butker, includ-
ing the go-ahead 34-yarder with
1:07 left, and beat downtrodden
New York 20-17 to even their record
after eight games.
“Listen, everything is not beauti-
ful right now but we’re fighting
through it,” Reid said. “Our guys
battled. They didn’t give up on each
other. They kept working at a time
you could have just thrown your
hands up and say, ‘Man, things are
just not working the way they’re
supposed to work.’ So we’ll build on
that. Let’s keep going.”
Mahomes threw for 275 yards
with a touchdown and an intercep-
tion for Kansas City, which along
with two turnovers, committed 12
penalties for 103 yards. Tyreek Hill
had 12 catches for 94 yards and a
score, and Mecole Hardman added
five catches for 63 yards, including
a24-yard catch-and-run on the final
drive that set Butker up for the go-
ahead kick.
“The guys are battling and trying
to find ways to win,” Mahomes said,
“and tonight we did.”
Daniel Jones had 222 yards pass-
ing with two touchdowns and a pick
for the Giants (2-6), but he also was
sacked three times, including twice
after the Chiefs kicked off with just
over a minute left in the game.
It was just the fourth win in 15
meetings for Kansas City and their
first since the 2013 season.
“We have to eliminate the mis-
takes we made down the stretch,”
New York coach Joe Judge said.
“We cant allow a team like this to
have extra opportunities. We can’t
rob ourselves a chance to have op-
portunities of our own.”
The Chiefs actually diced up the
Giants on their opening drive, but
for the fourth time this season, Ma-
homes had a pass bounce off his in-
tended target for an interception —
this time, backup running back Jer-
ick McKinnon. It was the seventh
consecutive game Mahomes had
thrown a pick and his league-lead-
ing 10th of the season.
It also was an ominous sign for an
offense that has done little to resem-
ble its high-flying reputation.
Kansas City did score moments
later, after Jones threw the ball
right back to them, but the Chiefs
struggled to get into their familiar
offensive rhythm. Mahomes
seemed to be in a different playbook
than his wide receivers, tight end
Travis Kelce was rendered a non-
factor by the New York defense and
penalties began to pile up.
Kansas City turned almost en-
tirely to the ground when it
marched for its second touchdown.
It was seldom-used Derrick Gore
that carried seven times for 43
yards before breaking the goal line
for his first career score.
The Giants — hardly dynamic in
their own right — were the ones that
often moved the ball at will.
Without running back Saquon
Barkley and wide receiver Kenny
Golladay, both still sidelined with
injuries, Jones was able to lean on
Booker and his backup receivers to
march 85 yards for an early touch-
down — most of it coming when
John Ross III beat safety Daniel
Sorensen for a 50-yard catch that
rendered his pass interference pen-
alty moot.
New York added an 86-yard
drive later in the first half that pro-
duced a field goal. And early in the
fourth quarter, Evan Engram beat
Sorensen to the pylon for a touch-
down catch that gave the Giants a
17-14 lead.
Chiefs slip past Giants on late FGMahomes throws anotherINT, but scuffling KC topsNew York to get to .500
BY DAVE SKRETTA
Associated Press
ED ZURGA/AP
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill celebrates after catching a touchdown pass as New YorkGiants safety Julian Love watches during the Chiefs’ 2017 win Monday in Kansas City, Mo.
10Interceptions this season for KansasCity Chiefs quarterback Patrick Ma-homes, which leads the NFL. He hasthrown interceptions in seven consec-utive games.
SOURCE: Associated Press
SPORTS
PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Chiefs rally past GiantsButker’s field goal with 1:07 leftlifts Kansas City ›› NFL, Page 23
Lightning end Caps’ 8-game points streak ›› NHL, Page 19
After a loss at Washing-
ton last week, Atlanta
Hawks star Trae Young
calmly aired some of
his frustrations with the way NBA
games are being officiated amid a
new crackdown on non-basketball
moves used to draw contact.
The 6-foot-1, 164-pound Young,
who made more free throws than
anybody in the NBA last season,
said he agreed with some of the
changes, but he was clearly con-
cerned some fouls are now being
overlooked.
A short while later, Kyle Kuzma
of the Wizards weighed in on Twit-
ter.
“The new rules changes to the
sport are the best thing the league
has done in recent history,” Kuz-
ma tweeted.
It’s not unusual for the NBA to
tweak the way rules are enforced,
and it remains to be seen how offi-
ciating might evolve throughout
the season. So far, some of the
game’s biggest offensive stars are
indeed going to the free-throw line
less often, and there’s some con-
cern that the changes may be al-
lowing more physicality in gener-
al, beyond what was intended.
“If we’re sacrificing freedom of
movement, that’s not, in my un-
derstanding, the intent of what
we’re trying to do,” Utah Jazz
JOHN BAZEMORE, ABOVE, AND NICK WASS, RIGHT/AP
Above: Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young says he’s frustrated with the way the game is now being called.After averaging 8.7 freethrow attempts a game last season, he’s down to 5.3 so far this season. Right:Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma recently tweeted “The new rules changes to the sport are thebest thing the league has done in recent history.”
NBA
Mixed bagAmid officiating changes,FTs down for some stars
BY NOAH TRISTER
Associated Press 19.9Average number of free throws so farthis season per game, per team, downfrom 21.8 in 2020-21.
SOURCE: Associated Press
“I think we’re all just trying to getthrough this period wherewe become accustomed
to where the line is.”Steve Nash
Brooklyn Nets coach
SEE MIXED ON PAGE 20